Engineering Commons^™

Traffic Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Statewide Analysis Of Social Separation And Activity Restriction, Scott Parr, Brian Wolshon, John Renne, Pamela Murray-Tuite, Karl Kim

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant social and economic impacts throughout the world. In addition to the health consequences, the impacts on travel behavior have also been sudden and wide ranging. This study describes the drastic changes in human behavior using the analysis of highway volume data as a representation of personal activity and interaction. Same-day traffic volumes for 2019 and 2020 across Florida were analyzed to identify spatial and temporal changes in behavior resulting from the disease or fear of it and statewide directives to limit person-to-person interaction. Compared to similar days in 2019, overall statewide traffic volume dropped …

Active Transportation And Health: Understanding The Impact Of Transportation-Related Physical Activity On Health, Sina Famili

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Car-oriented infrastructure in the U.S. leads to physically inactive lifestyles and negative health outcomes. To promote physical activity, public health officials encourage active transportation, namely biking and walking on daily trips. Previous studies proved that both perceived or self-assessed and objective health measures should be used to understand individuals’ health status. Therefore, this study uses the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data to understand the associations between perceived health and modal trip features including the number of trips, trip distance, and duration for auto, public transit, walk, and bike trips. Regarding the objective health, this dissertation uses one-week walking activities …

Development Of A Structural Design Methodology For Cementitious Sprayed Applied Pipe Linings In Gravity Storm Water Conveyance Conduits, Amin Darabnoush Tehrani

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Culverts are important components of the highway infrastructure. They form passageways through the embankment to convey storm water. Culverts are structurally designed to support superimposed earth loads or other fill materials as well as live loads. Corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) and reinforced concrete pipes (RCPs) are commonly used as culverts in the United States. Most of these culverts were installed four to five decades ago and have reached their design life. Spray applied pipe linings (SAPLs) are trenchless technology solutions for culvert rehabilitation that prevent further deterioration, such as corrosion, abrasion, etc., and can provide structural support for severely damaged …

Advancing Hydrologic And Hydraulic Understanding And Application Through Inundation Mapping And Estimation Of Losses, Jiaqi Zhang

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Flooding is the most frequent weather hazard that can cause serious fatalities and property damages worldwide. Climate change with extreme weather has further increased the impact from flooding and brought unprecedented challenges to engineering infrastructure and design. Scientists and engineers have used models to investigate and forecast the hydrologic and hydraulic responses to environmental changes in meteorological forcing and land use. With recent advances in sensing and computing technologies, models have been reaching higher levels of spatiotemporal granularity and scale. However, gaps exist between the scientific exploration and engineering practices. This doctoral study has been conducted to bridge such gaps …

Study Of New Transistor Architecture With Energy Filtering, Nnaemeka Mcdonald Eluagu

Material Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

The thermodynamic limit of the subthreshold slope to 60mV/decade at 300K forces MOSFET devices to use high supply voltages (> 0.5V) and therefore dissipate a lot of energy. This physical limitation of transistors is a direct consequence of thermal excitation of electrons. This study investigates a new transistor architecture capable of suppressing thermally excited electrons using a quantum well as an energy filter. The energy filter consists of a 2nm SiO2 tunneling barrier and a 2nm Quantum Well (QW) layer of Cr2O3 sandwiched between Ni electrodes and a channel of Si. Transistors having this QW energy filter have been fabricated …

Investigation Of High-Temperature Oxidation Resistance Mechanism Of Ceramic Coatings Via Microstructure Analysis, Yi Shen

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Recent developments of ceramic coatings deposited using magnetron reactive sputtering show that these films exhibited superior high-temperature oxidation resistance along with other desirable properties such as high hardness, optical transparency and good electrical conductivity. Detailed microstructure study of these films annealed to high temperatures using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is deemed necessary as it provides an intuitive vision on the behavior of the materials at elevated temperature, which is essential to further improve their high-temperature oxidation resistance. In this study, Hf-B-Si-C-N films with various compositions that were annealed to various temperatures in both helium and air were subjected to detailed …

Need Based Evaluation Of Cloud Services In The Wake Of Covid-19, Samir Souidi, Stanley Mierzwa

Center for Cybersecurity

For many organizations, particularly those that may be considered legacy, or older existing enterprises, the recent COVID-19 pandemic may be pushing them to further progress into the realm of cloud services. With the global population asked to quarantine or shelter-in-place during the pandemic spread of 2020, many businesses that were able to function with their workforce remotely had no choice but to do so. Having information systems available with true remote access capabilities was a must. For those organizations who had already moved to a cloud-based model, they found themselves in a far better situation than those firms who still …

Life Cycle Assessment Of The Us Beef Processing Through Integrated Hybrid Approach, Shaobin Li, Yuwei Qin, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Bruce Dvorak

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) incorporating process-based and economic input-output (EIO)–based inventory data has been applied in various industries (e.g., wind energy, biofuel). Few hybrid LCA studies have been found in the food industry. This work analyzes the life cycle environmental impacts of the US beef processing industry using process-based and integrated hybrid LCA. The process-based inventory includes all resource inputs and waste outputs associated with a beef processing plant. The EIO-based inventory includes key activities missing in the process-based inventory, such as technical and management service, wood and paper, and industrial equipment. Ten environmental impact categories from TRACI v2.1 …

Minimum Induced Drag For Tapered Wings Including Structural Constraints, Jeffrey D. Taylor, Douglas F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

LIFTING-LINE theory [1,2] is the foundation for much of our understanding of finite-wing aerodynamics. Solutions based on lifting-line theory are widely accepted and have been shown to be in good agreement with CFD [3-10]. From Prandtl’s analytic solution to the classical lifting-line equation [1,2], the wing section-lift distribution can be expressed as a Fourier series of the form [11]

bL^~ (θ)/L = (4/π)[sin(θ) + Σ^∞_n-2 B_nsin(nθ)]; θ = cos^-1(-2z/b) (1)

where b is the wingspan, L^~ is the local wing section lift, L is the total wing lift, z is the spanwise …

Openfoam Dakota Interface, Anjali Sandip

Mechanical Engineering Posters and Presentations

Traditionally, multi-physics/phase simulation software programs lack tools for uncertainty quantification and optimization. More recently, there is a growing body of research that has integrated these tools into multi-physics/phase simulation software programs [1-4]. Building on this methodology, the study integrated open-source software programs, OpenFOAM [5] for multi-physics/phase simulations and DAKOTA [6] for optimization and uncertainty quantification. Furthermore, the coupled software was successfully applied to benchmarks. The overarching goal was to develop an open-source framework for multi-physics/phase simulations, optimization and uncertainty quantification. The applications of this open-source framework span several industries ranging from aerospace and energy to healthcare and manufacturing.

Nonlinear Control And Observation Of Full-Variable Speed Wind Turbine Systems., Nicholas Hawkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With increasing concern for the environmental effects of power generation from fossil fuels, wind energy is a competitive source for electrical power with higher efficiency than other clean sources. However, the nature of this power source makes controlling wind turbines difficult. The variability of wind as a source either requires highly accurate measurement equipment or sophisticated mathematical alternatives. In addition to the unknown quantities of the weather itself, the efficiency of power capture at the turbine blades is highly nonlinear in nature and difficult to ascertain. The ability of either determine these troublesome quantities, or control the system despite ignorance …

Model-Based Control Methods To Improve The Power Qualify Of Grid-Connected Single-Phase Inverters., Moath Alqatamin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Power electronic converters are commonly used for interfacing distributing generation sources (DGs) to the electrical power system networks. This is necessary because these DGs usually have different output characteristics and cannot be connected directly to the local load and/or the grid. The power electronic front-end converter is an inverter whose dc link is fed by an ac/dc converter or by a dc/dc converter, according to the DG source type. The commercial front-end inverters are designed to operate either in grid-connected (GC) mode or in stand-alone (SA) mode. In the SA mode, the inverter is connected to local load, but in …

Mathematical Models And Analysis For Demand Side Management In Residential Electricity Distribution Networks., Arnab Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Development of smart grids along with communication technologies have led to the increased attention and adoption of demand side management (DSM) in the residential sector. Among various DSM schemes, demand response (DR) is a market- based mechanism to shave peak electricity consumption at the system level. In the past decade, the academia has seen a growing literature studying load management methodologies for residential consumers. A typical demand response program has three important facets: the energy cost, comfort of the consumers and overall system efficiency. In this dissertation, we investigate and develop models for effective load control to minimize energy cost …

Lead Free Piezoelectric And Triboelectric Energy Film For Energy Harvesting And Sensory Applications, Abu Musa Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations

In recent times, Triboelectricity and Piezoelectricity has been widely used for utilizing mechanical energy from ambient environment. Scientists are focusing towards developing advanced material composites for utilizing piezoelectricity and triboelectricity for energy harvesting and sensory applications. This work includes two projects regarding the application of lead free piezoelectric and triboelectric energy for energy harvesting and sensory applications. Human motion has been attributed as a source of mechanical energy to drive electronic devices and sensors through Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG). Based on the principles of single electrode TENG, we have developed a Triboelectricity based Stepping and Tapping Energy Case (TESTEC) which magnifies …

Development Of Plant Extract-Based Composite Fibers And Aerogels, Raul C. Barbosa

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to use the solid templating process of pullulan nanofibers in order to produce biocompatible, biodegradable, and antibacterial aerogels. The developed aerogels were produced using cross-linked pullulan nanofibers, which provide a water-stable structure allowing them to be used as wound dressing material. The morphology, thermal properties, water solubility, and thermal and physical properties of the nanofibers and aerogels were characterized. Furthermore, the antibacterial effect against gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli, and the biocompatibility using mouse embryonic fibroblasts (NIH 3T3) were investigated.

Update To Methodology For Setting Speed Limits In Urban Areas: Spr 827, Miguel Figliozzi, Avinash Unnikrishnan, Jaclyn S. Schaefer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many cities in Oregon are requesting a comprehensive review of speed zoning guidelines and existing procedures for streets with high volumes of active travelers. The main goal of this research is to develop recommendations for alternate criteria for setting speed zones on roadways with a high percentage of active travelers. Literature pertaining to factors affecting operating speed, speed and safety, speed management, and current speed zone practices is reviewed. The selection of the site and performance criteria is discussed. Qualities and characteristics of the speed data utilized are given. Distinctions between neighborhood and non-neighborhood greenways are noted. A before and …

Using Natural Language Processing And Sentiment Analysis To Augment Traditional User-Centered Design: Development And Usability Study, Curtis L. Petersen, Ryan Halter, David Kotz, Lorie Loeb, Summer B. Cook, Dawna M. Pidgeon, Brock Christensen, John A. Batsis

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Sarcopenia, defined as the age-associated loss of muscle mass and strength, can be effectively mitigated through resistance-based physical activity. With compliance at approximately 40% for home-based exercise prescriptions, implementing a remote sensing system would help patients and clinicians to better understand treatment progress and increase compliance. The inclusion of end users in the development of mobile apps for remote-sensing systems can ensure that they are both user friendly and facilitate compliance. With advancements in natural language processing (NLP), there is potential for these methods to be used with data collected through the user-centered design process.

Objective: This study aims …

Seismic Design Coefficients For Speedcore Or Composite Plate Shear Walls - Concrete Filled (C-Psw/Cf), Shubham Agrawal, Morgan Broberg, Amit H. Varma

Bowen Laboratory Research Reports

This report summarizes the results from FEMA P695 analytical studies conducted to verify the seismic design factors for composite plate shear walls – concrete filled (C-PSW/CF), also referred to as Speedcore. ASCE 7-16 provides the seismic design factors, which include the seismic response modification factor, R, deflection amplification factor, C_d, and overstrength factor, Ω_o, for various approved seismic systems. C-PSW/CFs are assigned a response modification factor of 6.5, a deflection amplification factor of 5.5, and an overstrength factor of 2.5 for C-PSW/CFs. These seismic design factors were selected based on the seismic performance of similar structural …

Social Participation Performance Of Wheelchair Users Using Clustering And Geolocational Sensor's Data, Yukun Yin, Kar Way Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

For wheelchair users, social participation and physical mobility play a significant part in determining their mental health and quality of life outcomes. However, little is known about how wheelchair users move about and engage in social interactions within their life-spaces. In this project, we investigate the social participation performance of the wheelchair users based on a combination of geolocational and lifestyle survey data collected over a period of three months. This paper adopts a multi-variate approach combining geolocational travel patterns and various factors such as independence, willingness and self-perception to provide multi-faceted analysis to their lifestyles. We provide profiles of …

An Investigation Into Multi-View Error Correcting Output Code Classifiers Applied To Organ Tissue Classification, Daniel Alvarez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Large amounts of data is being generated constantly each day, so much data that it is difficult to find patterns in order to predict outcomes and make decisions for both humans and machines alike. It would be useful if this data could be simplified using machine learning techniques. For example, biological cell identity is dependent on many factors tied to genetic processes. Such factors include proteins, gene transcription, and gene methylation. Each of these factors are highly complex mechanism with immense amounts of data. Simplifying these can then be helpful in finding patterns in them. Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) does …

Single Molecule Super-Resolution Microscopy Study On The Precision With Which Dna Nanostructures Can Orient Fluorescent Dyes, Brett Michael Ward

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

DNA nanotechnology enables the rapid, programmable self-assembly of novel structures and devices at the nanoscale. Utilizing the simplicity of Watson-Crick base pairing, DNA nanostructures are capable of assembling a variety of nanoparticles in arbitrary configurations with relative ease. Several emerging opto-electronic systems require a high degree of control of both the position and orientation of component fluorescent molecules, and while DNA nanostructures have demonstrated these capabilities, the precision with which DNA can orient fluorescent molecules is not well understood. Determining these bounds is critical in establishing the viability of DNA nanotechnology as a method of assembling fluorescent molecular networks.

In …

Mxenes As Flow Electrodes For Capacitive Deionization Of Wastewater, Naqsh E. Mansoor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The energy-water nexus poses an integrated research challenge, while opening up an opportunity space for the development of energy efficient technologies for water remediation. Capacitive Deionization (CDI) is an upcoming reclamation technology that uses a small applied voltage applied across electrodes to electrophoretically remove dissolved ionic impurities from wastewater streams. Similar to a supercapacitor, the ions are stored in the electric double layer of the electrodes. Reversing the polarity of applied voltage enables recovery of the removed ionic impurities, allowing for recycling and reuse. Simultaneous materials recovery and water reclamation makes CDI energy efficient and resource conservative, with potential to …

Studies On Space Grade Nano-Iconic Radiation Sensors Using Additive Manufacturing Technology, Shah Mohammad Rahmot Ullah

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Though Additive manufacturing technology has been developing for 30 years, in recent years, it gets researchers’ and industries’ attention for new expansion in fabricated electronics devices, especially on a flexible substrate. This technology allows fabricating complex design of electronics devices with multi-functionality. Its application has been significantly expanded to different fields such as sensors and other device prototypes for nuclear facilities, aerospace manufacturing, bio-medical, solar energy, etc. due to its low-cost efficiency and sustainable manufacturing. It has a huge advantage over traditional methods such as lower materials waste during production, avoiding complex etching system and harmful chemicals, simplified assembly system …

Multiphysics Finite Element Analysis Of In-Pile Sensors For Advanced Nuclear Reactors, Takoda Linn Bingham

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear reactors have large needs for in-pile sensors that are durable in high temperature, radioactive, and corrosive environments. With the use of multiphysics finite element analysis (FEA) researchers can speed up sensor prototyping. FEA also allows for a better fundamental understanding of sensors and enables sensor optimization. This research focuses on three types of in-pile sensors developed at Idaho National Laboratory: acoustic sensors, linear variable differential transformers (LVDT), and capacitance based strain gauges (CSG). Two acoustic sensors, magnetostrictive waveguides and piezoelectric surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors were first modeled. These models showed the acoustic wave patterns and estimated the speed …

Assessing The Prevalence Of Suspicious Activities In Asphalt Pavement Construction Using Algorithmic Logics And Machine Learning, Mostofa Najmus Sakib

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) is a planned systematic approach to secure the satisfactory performance of Hot mix asphalt (HMA) construction projects. Millions of dollars are invested by government and state highway agencies to construct large-scale HMA construction projects. QC/QA is statistical approach for checking the desired construction properties through independent testing. The practice of QC/QA has been encouraged by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) since the mid 60’s. However, the standard QC/QA practice is often criticized on how effective such statistical tests and how representative the reported material tests are. Material testing data alteration in the HMA …

Quantifying The Effects Of Climate Change On Pavement Performance Prediction Using Aashtoware Pavement Me Design, Md Shahjalal Chowdhury

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is one of the most concerning global issues and has the potential to influence every aspect of human life. Like different components of society, it can impose significant adverse impacts on pavement infrastructure. Although several research efforts have focused on studying the effects of climate change on natural and built systems, its impact on pavement performance has not been studied as extensively. The primary objectives of this thesis research was to quantify the effect of temperature changes on flexible pavement response and performance prediction using the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED), and quantify the effects of Local Calibration …

A Computational Framework To Model Mesenchymal Stem Cell Nucleus Mechanics Using Confocal Microscopy, Zeke Kennedy

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The mechanical properties of the cell nucleus are emerging as a key component in genetic transcription. It has been shown that the stiffness of the nucleus in part regulates the transcription of genes in response to external mechanical stimuli. The stiffness has been shown to change as a result of both disease and changes to the external environment. While the mechanical structure of the nucleus can be visually documented using a confocal microscope, it is currently impossible to test the stiffness of the nucleus without a mechanical testing apparatus such as an atomic force microscope. This is problematic in that …

Design And Characterization Of Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Arrays For Killing And Removing Bacterial Biofilms, Adam Croteau

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Present research at Boise State University (BSU) has demonstrated the ability of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) devices to remove bacterial biofilms on steel substrates. Although bacteria may easily be inactivated by plasma treatment, the remains of the organism are still present on the substrate. It is shown that single element DBD CAP discharge devices operating at 2100 Vrms with 5 LPM of hydrated argon gas etched P. fluorescens biofilm within a few minutes of exposure. Similarly, using an 8 element array of linear plasma discharges, etch removal of biofilm was …

Analysis And Computation Of Polaritonic Systems In Infrared Regime For Sensing Applications, Abdelgader Ahmed Alshiekh Alsalhin

Theses and Dissertations

Generally, the aims of this work tend to focus on introducing novel designs for IR-sensing and a solid related knowledge based on computational analysis and investigations for polaritonic systems. This modern field of nanophotonics has been interested and promising nowadays thanks to the development in nano-fabrications and computing power and speed. Therefore, the theme-work is organized into two main parts along with the goals were addressed initially. The first part provides the necessary concepts for different responses of materials exposed to electromagnetic (EM) intensity which usually known as EM-matter interaction. Also, this part highlights how engineering these interactions in nano-scale …

Experimental Study Of Graphene Energy Absorbing Layer In Femtosecond Infrared Laser Assisted Bioprinting, Chaoran Dou

Theses and Dissertations

The bioprinting, as a new branch of additive manufacturing, already shown its potential in organ transplantation, medicine develop and personalized medicine. There are three types of bioprinting: droplet based bioprinting, extrusion based bioprinting and laser assisted bioprinting (LAB). Compared with other types of bioprinting, the LAB is the only bioprinting method that does not have a nozzle, which gives it the ability to print high viscosity bioink. The LAB also enjoys higher resolution and cell viability than other methods.

The bubble/jet formation process is the most important process for the LAB, which deposits the bioink to the substrate. To utilize …