Engineering Commons^™

Honokiol Loaded Mpeg-Pcl Micelles For The Treatment Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Amna Shahid

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a multi-factorial age-related retinal hypoxic disorder resulting in irreversible loss of vision is the foremost cause of blindness in United States. Current treatment strategies used to treat disease involve multiple intraocular injections of Anti – VEGF agents into the vitreous of eye. In addition to the issues of drug localization and targeted delivery, the need to frequently inject drug into the eye raise patient compliance issues. These challenges call for sustained drug delivery system. In this study, a sustained drug delivery system was prepared by loading an anti- HIF agent, honokiol into MPEG-PCL polymer. These …

Convergence Of Auditory Nerve Fibers Onto Globular Bushy Cells, Matthew Kersting

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globular bushy cells (GBCs) of the cochlear nucleus are specialized neurons that encode the temporal features of sound. Multiple auditory nerve inputs are known to synapse onto a single GBC, but the exact number and sizes of these inputs have not been systematically investigated in adult mice. To gain a high-resolution and unbiased look at the auditory inputs contacting GBCs, our lab utilized Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy. Specifically, 21 GBCs and all their large inputs were reconstructed at nanometer resolution. To produce the most precise results, we applied careful attention to the reconstruction and implemented cutting-edge meshing algorithms. We …

Characterizing The Biophysical Properties And Origin Of Extracellular Matrix In The Breast Tumor Microenvironment, Connor T. King

LSU Master's Theses

Tumors derived from breast tissue possess the ability to manipulate and permanently alter their surrounding tissue. Studies demonstrate that tissues surrounding breast tumors have differences in secreted factors as well as extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and structure. However, some fundamental gaps exist within this paradigm: specifically, what exacerbates this transformation and are these changes maintained between the subtypes of breast tumors? Therefore, a targeted evaluation of the effects of the tumor on the stromal microenvironment in a subtype specific manner will be invaluable. To determine if tumor aggressiveness and subtype differentially regulate the tumor microenvironment, a model must be constructed …

Control Of A Human Arm Robotic Unit Using Augmented Reality And Optimized Kinematics, Carlo Canezo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are more than 350000 amputees in the US who suffer loss of functionality in their daily living activities, and roughly 100000 of them are upper arm amputees. Many of these amputees use prostheses to compensate part of their lost arm function, including power prostheses. Research on 6-7 degree of freedom powered prostheses is still relatively new, and most commercially available powered prostheses are typically limited to 1 to 3 degrees of freedom. Due to the myriad of possible options for various powered protheses from different manufacturers, each configuration is governed by a distinct control scheme typically specific to the …

Recent Advances In Graphene-Based Materials For Fuel Cell Applications, Hanrui Su, Yun Hang Hu

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The unique chemical and physical properties of graphene and its derivatives (graphene oxide, heteroatom-doped graphene, and functionalized graphene) have stimulated tremendous efforts and made significant progress in fuel cell applications. This review focuses on the latest advances in the use of graphene-based materials in electrodes, electrolytes, and bipolar plates for fuel cells. The understanding of structure-activity relationships of metal-free heteroatom-doped graphene and graphene-supported catalysts was highlighted. The performances and advantages of graphene-based materials in membranes and bipolar plates were summarized. We also outlined the challenges and perspectives in using graphene-based materials for fuel cell applications.

Analysis Of Glutathione Supplementation Effects On Female Metabolic Syndrome Condition Using Classification Techniques, Nur Rasyidah Hasan Basri

Student Works (2020-2029)

Lesser known to the public that main antioxidants in our body, Glutathione are also said to influence the metabolic syndrome (MS) condition. Oral supplementation consisting of glutathione precursors and vitamin C introduced in the study was to improve glutathione (GSH) status of the consumer and the main objective of this study is to investigate GSH effects on selected MS condition. Several known studies had proven that oral supplementation improved GSH level of consumer. However, there is no definite proof on how it’s affecting MS parameters. Also, there is less study carried out on the relationship between glutathione levels and metabolic …

In The Pursuit Of Assistance: A Team's Desire To Not Let A Congenital Amputation Get In A Young Boy's Way, Carl Russell Iii, Gavin Loucks, Kirsten Wozniak

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

EPICS is a service-learning design program run through Purdue University. It strives to teach students design skills through providing for individuals, communities, and organizations in the surrounding area while mirroring engineering industry standards. BME (Biomedical Engineering) is a team within EPICS that strives to serve community partners through biomedical applications. William Sevick is an elementary school student with a congenital arm amputation. William and his family have been working with the BME team for the past three years designing assistive devices with the purpose of improving his actions in daily life such as eating, playing games, and riding his bike.

Epics Urban Farming: Bringing Sustainable Fresh Food To Gary, Indiana, Elijah Klein

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

EPICS Urban Farming is a team of seventeen undergraduate students designing and implementing an aquaponics and food distribution system in Gary, Indiana. With the area being a food desert, most people turn to corner stores for food that is easily accessible and cheap but unhealthy. From this diet, there are quite a few widespread health concerns that the population of Gary, Indiana, faces daily. For example, obesity, diabetes, and heart conditions are some of the most common diseases that plague the community. Urban Farming is working to aid in combating these issues with the partnership of Pastor Marty Henderson, who …

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Nandi Clean Kitchen Study, Samantha Dykhuis, Stephanie Schiavo, Avalin Senefeld

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Indoor air pollution is a widespread environmental health challenge sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of premature death in many sub-Saharan African countries. This pollution is primarily caused by the burning of biomass fuels inside an enclosed kitchen in order to provide heat for cooking. Global Air Quality Trekkers is an undergraduate engineering team within the EPICS department at Purdue that began in fall 2016. Our objective is to create a kitchen design that utilizes natural ventilation to mitigate the amount of air pollutants present in these kitchens, specifically in the Nandi community of Western Kenya. This year, our …

Students Becoming Supervisors: Student Transformation During A Cross-National, Collaborative Community Engineering Project, Alessandra Napoli, Kevin Nyaga, Dhinesh Radhakrishnan, Jennifer J. Deboer

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The Tumaini Innovation Center in Eldoret, Kenya, is an alternative primary and vocational school for former "street youth." The DeBoer Lab at Purdue has partnered with Tumaini for the last five years to develop and support integrated engineering activities for the students, which apply their learning to solve problems in their own communities. A Purdue Service Learning Grant project started in November 2018 resulted in the construction of a community gym at Tumaini. A low-cost custom made gym was designed by a team of doctoral and undergraduate students at Purdue in collaboration with Tumaini. In addition to the design and …

Emergence And Compassion: A Reflection On Interpersonal Priorities Strategies Within Collaborative Settings, Chanel Beebe

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The nature of work with and for humans and communities requires intentional relationship building that can be rife with complexities, foibles, discomfort, and learning. As scholars, researchers, practitioners, educators, and students, we carry a multitude of identities and dispositions that make collaborative work and change-making a messy and potentially emotional journey. Thus, many groups that find themselves on this journey often struggle to develop harmonious or impactful lasting relationships and often create toxic or harmful working environments for those who are the most marginalized or have the least power. The goal of this work is to provide a reflection on …

Retrospective Analysis Of Participatory Decision-Making In A Park's Construction In Lafayette, Indiana, Joshua Randall

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The Creative Park project has been an ongoing collaboration between Purdue Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), Faith Community Development Corporation, and the residents of Lincoln Neighborhood in Lafayette, Indiana. It was initiated by Faith in 2017 as an open-ended attempt to increase local children’s interactions with creative and complex thinking as well as decreasing time spent indoors at the Hartford Hub. Through several iterations of designs, an interdisciplinary team with one consistent member has developed a plan to build a treehouse-themed park to be constructed in spring 2020. Throughout this time two major themes have arisen: that the collaboration …

The Hartford Hub’S Creative Park: A Reflection On Epics And The Importance Of Community, Nasser Alsinan

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In this project, the team aspires to build a Creative Park next to the Hartford Hub, a neighborhood community center that serves the people of the Lincoln Neighborhood in Lafayette. In this reflective essay, the author discusses the impact of this EPICS project on both the community and on himself, as the NS team seeks to establish both a staple for the Hartford Hub and a birthplace for the children’s memories through the creation of the Creative Park.

On The Stress Concentration At Sharp V-Notches Under Tension, Trent Mattieu Andrus

LSU Master's Theses

Accurately determining stresses at re-entrant corners using finite element analysis (FEA) is challenging due to the high stresses produced at the corner. Indeed, FEA is unable to obtain quantitatively accurate peak stresses at mathematically sharp re-entrant corners with traditional boundary conditions because these stresses are singular. Imposing a local corner radius by rounding the sharp corner to remove the singular result is an appropriate technique for large radii, but as the corner radius tends to zero and the notch is close to being sharp, we expect there are radii that yield quantitatively inaccurate results with traditional FEA. We seek to …

Resource Discovery In A Changing Content World, Allen Jones, Cynthia R. Schwarz, Hannah Mckelvey, Rachelle Mclain, Christine Stohn

Charleston Library Conference

Discovery services have evolved to include not just books and articles, but databases, website content, research guides, digital and audiovisual collections, and unique local collections that are all important for their users to be able to find. Search and ranking remain at the core of discovery, but advanced tools such as recommendation, virtual browse, ‘look inside‘, and the use of artificial intelligence are also becoming more prevalent. This group of panelists discussed how content in their discovery systems can change based on the context of the user, using as examples Primo and Blacklight, and how content is populated, discovered and …

Modulating Mechanical Properties Of Polymer Composites Via Colloidal Particle Reinforcement, Yusheng Guo

LSU Master's Theses

Additive manufacturing allows the rapid process of complex objects with excellent design flexibility. However, the products often exhibit poor mechanical properties when pure polymer is applied as printable material. In this work, we demonstrate that printability of polymer can be dramatically improved when particle filler is added to form reinforced polymer composites. Furthermore, the interaction between filler and polymer matrix leads to the enhancement in mechanical properties of the printed product. The material reinforcement induced by addition of fillers enables the wide application of polymer composites to print structures with unique features. In the printing of silica-reinforced pNIPAM composite, we …

Strategies For Managing The Colorado River In An Uncertain Future, Jian Wang

All ECSTATIC Materials

Colorado River managers face a deeply uncertain future. Projections of declining watershed runoff are likely to necessitate restructuring of the present interpretation of the Law of the River that allocates water supply among Mexico and the seven states of the Basin. Additionally, the magnitude and distribution of consumptive uses of water will change. Outcomes for river and reservoir ecosystems are poorly predicted. How should we make better decisions given these uncertain factors? To help answer this question and expand conversation about the Colorado River management issues, we (1) classify different levels of uncertainty to guide decisions about which modeling tools …

Facile Synthesis Of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene-Like Active Carbon Materials For High Performance Lithium-Sulfur Battery, Quan-Hua Meng, Wen-Wen Deng, Chang-Ming Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

Lithium-sulphur (Li-S) battery is regarded as a promising energy storage device because of its high theoretical capacity. However, the low S utilization and short cycling life limit the commercial applications. In this work, nitrogen-doped graphene-like carbon (NGC) materials were synthesized by simply pyrolyzing and carbonizing the mixture of melamine (C₃H₆N₆) and L-cysteine (C₃H₇NO₂S). The graphene-like structure in NGC effectively buffered the volume change of S during the discharge/charge process and improved the cycling stability. Meanwhile, nitrogen-containing functional groups in NGC facilitated the transportation of ions and suppressed the …

Electrochemical Engineering Of Carbon Nanodots, Lei Bao, Dai-Wen Pang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Aqueous batteries have been considered to be a competitive candidate for large-scale energy storage. However, most of aqueous batteries adopt inorganic electrode materials with metallic elements, which are based on the reversible insertion of metal ions, making their application being highly hindered by limited cycle life, environmental issue, high cost and low reserves. On the other hand, organic electrode materials offer the advantages of abundant reserves, tunable structures, renewability and environmental benignity. Furthermore, the wide internal space enables these organics to flexibly store various charge carriers. Organics have been investigated as the alternative to inorganic electrode materials. Herein, we review …

An Overview Of Methods And A New Three-Dimensional Fea And Analytical Hybrid Technique For Calculating Ac Winding Losses In Pm Machines, Narges Taran, Dan M. Ionel, Vandana Rallabandi, Greg Heins, Dean Patterson

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

This article proposes a new hybrid analytical and numerical finite element (FE) based method for calculating ac eddy current losses in wire windings and demonstrates its applicability for axial flux permanent magnet electric machines. The method takes into account three-dimensional (3-D) field effects in order to achieve accurate results and yet greatly reduce computational efforts. The new 3-D FE-based method is advantageous as it employs minimum simplifications and considers the end turns in the eddy current path, the magnetic flux density variation along the effective length of coils, and the field fringing and leakage, which ultimately increases the accuracy of …

Critères De Stabilité Des Échelles Et Des Escabeaux, Bertrand Galy

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les chutes de hauteur sont encore aujourd’hui une des principales causes d’accident au Québec, et la deuxième cause en termes de coûts sur la période 2010 – 2012, avec une moyenne de 397 millions de dollars par année. Selon la CNESST, les statistiques de lésions impliquant les échelles, que ce soit en construction ou en établissement, montrent une augmentation au fil des ans (période de 2007 à 2012) et sur la période 2009 à 2013, 20 % des lésions dues à une chute de hauteur ont été causées par une chute à partir d’une échelle.

Un des principaux critères affectant …

Analysis Of Computational Modeling Methods As Applied To Single-Crystal Organohalide Perovskites, Jon M. Bebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perovskite, specifically MAPbI3, has exploded onto the electronic material forefront, with applications from photovoltaic to optical sensors. Still, there remain many unanswered questions about the electronic, structural and mechanical processes and properties of this perovskite. Computational software exists to model the electronic structure and material properties, to the nano scale, using density-functional theory. The goal of these models it to parallel the physical science of the substance in a computer simulation based on emerging mathematical models of the quantum mechanical behavior. In this study I review the historical use of perovskites in electronics, review the evolution of DFT algorithm developments …

Ramp Metering For A Distant Downstream Bottleneck Using Reinforcement Learning With Value Function Approximation, Yue Zhou, Kaan Ozbay, Pushkin Kachroo, Fan Zuo

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Ramp metering for a bottleneck located far downstream of the ramp is more challenging than for a bottleneck that is near the ramp. This is because under the control of a conventional linear feedback-type ramp metering strategy, when metered traffic from the ramp arrive at the distant downstream bottleneck, the state of the bottleneck may have significantly changed from when it is sampled for computing the metering rate; due to the considerable time, these traffic will have to take to traverse the long distance between the ramp and the bottleneck. As a result of such time-delay effects, significant stability issue …

Porous-Electrode Theory Of Lithium Ion Battery: Old Paradigm And New Challenge, Xiao-Xiao Wang, Zi-Rui Zhou, Qiang Shan, Zeng-Ming Zhang, Jun Huang, Yu-Wen Liu, Sheng-Li Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

A critical review on the porous electrode theory developed by Newman and his colleagues is presented. We propose several ideas for further development of this theory by analyzing its limitations. The classical Newman theory does not consider ion steric effect in describing ion transport in electrolyte solutions, which can be amended by a newly developed ion-vacancy coupled charge transfer model for ion transport in concentrated solutions. Ion transport in solid particles of active materials is essentially an ion-electron coupled transport process, and its rationality is verified by comparing the calculated and experimental diffusion coefficients of Li ⁺ ion in intercalation …

Progress And Prospects On Multifunctional Coating Separators For Lithium-Sulfur Battery, Zhuang-Zhuang Wei, Nan-Xiang Zhang, Feng Wu, Ren-Jie Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of advanced energy storage systems is crucial to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles, portable devices and renewable energy storage. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, with their advantages of high specific energy, low cost of raw materials and environmental friendliness, are hotspots in the research field of new high performance batteries. However, there are still many problems which hinder the practical applications of lithium-sulfur batteries, such as the shuttle effect of soluble polysulfide intermediates, the growth of lithium dendrites, and the thermal stability and safety of lithium-sulfur batteries during use. The design of multifunctional coating separator is one of …

Licoo2 As Sulfur Host To Enhance Cathode Volumetric Capacity For Lithium-Sulfur Battery, Lu Wang, Xue-Ping Gao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Lithium-sulfur battery is one of the most promising secondary battery systems due to its super high theoretical gravimetric and volumetric energy densities (2600 Wh·kg^-1 and 2800 Wh·L^-1, respectively). However, the practical volumetric capacity of sulfur cathode is still unsatisfied due to the overuse of low-density host materials, such as carbon nanomaterials. Herein, commercial LiCoO₂ with the high tap density of 2.94 g·cm^-3 was used as the host material to build high density sulfur-based composite and compact electrode for increasing the volumetric capacity. Obviously, the tap density of the as-prepared S/LiCoO₂ composite was 1.90 g·cm …

Research Progress Of Key Components In Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, Jia-Jia Chen, Quan-Feng Dong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Due to the much higher theoretical specific capacity and energy density than the ones of traditional lithium ion battery, Li-S batteries have long been at the pinnacle in the realms of high-energy Li-metal batteries. However, the complicated electrochemical reactions on the sulfur cathode and Li anode, induced by the thermodynamic and kinetic behaviors of lithium polysulfides, are the intrinsic bottleneck to realize the full potential of Li-S batteries for practical application. In this review, we firstly discuss the roles, and thermodynamic and kinetic behaviors of polysulfides in the charging and discharging processes of Li-S batteries. Then, the functional design and …

Hateproofing Your Message: Response And Prevention Strategies For "Hatejacks", Bond Benton, Daniela Peterka-Benton

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

An Inferential Study Of The Potential Consumer Value Of Free Charging For Users Of Public Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure, Divyamitra Mishra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although there is economic and marketing evidence of consumers assigning additional benefits to free products and bundles, there is limited research into the behavioral consequences of offering public electric vehicle charging for free. Previous exploratory research by Maness and Lin analyzed possible economic and environmental benefits from offering free public charging infrastructure and policy. Their work found that providing free public charging infrastructure could increase plug-in electric vehicle sales and cause decreased reliance on fossil fuels in the personal transportation sector. However, their study assumed the increased value which consumers would place on free charge events. This project proposes to …

A Model For The Anodic Carbonization Of Alkaline Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells, Qi-Hao Li, Ying-Ming Wang, Hua-Long Ma, Li Xiao, Gong-Wei Wang, Jun-Tao Lu, Lin Zhuang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cell (APEFC) has made appreciable progress in recent years but is still suffering performance loss during discharge with air as the oxidant. Several theories have been suggested to interpret the loss. However, efforts are still needed to reach a clear quantitative understanding. Based on the major experimental findings in combination with thermodynamics and kinetics of the reactions involved in the anode, this paper presents a model featuring layered carbonization in the anode and relevant grouped equations. The simulation results generated from the latter are compared with experiments, and possible principles to suppress the performance loss …