Engineering Commons^™

Weber Basin Water Conservancy District Bottom-Up Climate Vulnerability Study Using Riverware, Jacob Everitt

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With so much uncertainty of what the future has in store for us, how can we prepare for what lies ahead? The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (WBWCD) needs to know how they can best prepare for future climate changes and future growth, and where their water system is vulnerable. A bottom-up approach can be used to consider how factors and subfactors effect the vulnerability of their water system's storage and delivery. This approach is accomplished with the use of RiverWare, an advanced water system modeling program. Scenarios to represent the factors are as follows: range of future stream flows, …

Impacts Of Beaver Dams On Mountain Stream Discharge And Water Temperature, Timothy R. Clark

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Beaver dam complexes have been shown to affect the hydrologic processes controlling river systems. These processes include surface and groundwater exchanges, water chemistry and temperature variations, and river discharge magnitudes. Majerova et al. (2015) explored the effects of beaver dams on surface and groundwater exchanges and water temperature by evaluating three years of water discharge and temperature data recorded at multiple locations within a small stream in northern Utah. They found that beaver dams increase the water surface elevation and force water into the floodplain resulting in increased inundation and groundwater recharge. They additionally found that beaver dams increase residence …

Alternative Material Selection For Oyster Restoration With An Emphasis On Living Docks, Bridgette Soucy

Theses and Dissertations

Oyster restoration efforts, including Living Shoreline and Living Dock projects, utilize aquaculture-grade plastic oyster mats to mitigate the decline of benthic communities. Aquaculture-grade plastic are known for strength, durability, and resilience to degradation in seawater. Over time, plastics break into microscopic segments commonly referred to as microplastics. Microplastics represent a major concern as marine organisms mistake the small particles for food. Plastics bioaccumulate in marine species, which impacts the marine food web and humans. In order to reduce further negative anthropogenic impacts, natural fibers and nature-inspired concrete mixtures were utilized across a series of experiments in order to determine an …

Computational Method To Calculate Output Current For Gated Spad To Determine Dcr And Pde, Ahmad Salih Azzahrani

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of detecting a single-photon is receiving considerable attention with the development of new single-photon detectors in stressed free-space optical communication, low probability of intercept (LPI) optical communication, quantum communication, and remote sensing. The theoretical modeling of the waveforms of the single-photon detector output produced in particular systems will expedite the search for and analysis of detected signals. A mathematical model of the output current of a single-photon avalanche detector (SPAD) gated with sinusoidal and Gaussian signals is developed and discussed. The mathematical model is combined with existing circuit and physical models to produce a compact model of the …

Graphene Surface Plasmon Applications In Designing Novel Nano-Heterostructure Arrays, Seyededriss Mirniaharikandi

Theses and Dissertations

Graphene is the flat monolayer of carbon atoms constructing a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice with an exotic mechanic, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties. Interestingly, the graphene has been experimentally shown its unique properties in photonics, where the first commercial application of graphene has been realized. Graphene possesses intrinsic plasmons that are electronically tunable, adjustable, and have low dissipation. Recently, the combination of graphene with noble metals and semiconductors structures promises a variety of exciting applications for conventional plasmonics and photonics. In this thesis, we present how to efficiently design heterostructure by combining graphene plasmonic metasurface with noble metals and semiconductors. First, …

A Novel Design Of Broadband Antennas With A Defected Radiating Patch Structure For Wireless Communication Systems, Ali Giuma F Esseid

Theses and Dissertations

Generally, conventional wireless communication systems transfer data between two points through a channel, consisting of broadband with a multi-frequency band. Broadband or multiband is very important in wireless telecommunication devices. It is quickly advancing as high-speed and high-level data rate wireless modern communication technology. In wireless modern communication the antenna plays a very crucial role. Broadband with a multi-frequency band purpose has been the incitement of this research. However, there are a lot of challenges in designing and accomplishing a broadband with a multi-frequency band antenna than with a tight impedance bandwidth single antenna. Appropriate broadband with multi-frequency band antenna …

Brillouin Zone Center Phonon Modes In Znga2O4, Megan Stokey, Rafal Korlacki, Sean Knight, Matthew J. Hilfiker, Zbigniew Galazka, Klaus Irmscher, Vanya Darakchieva, Mathias Schubert

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Infrared-active lattice mode properties of melt-grown high-quality single bulk crystals of ZnGa₂O₄ are investigated by combined spectroscopic ellipsometry and density functional theory computation analysis. The normal spinel structure crystals are measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry at room temperature in the range of 100 cm^–1–1200 cm^–1. The complex-valued dielectric function is determined from a wavenumber-by-wavenumber approach, which is then analyzed by the four-parameter semi-quantum model dielectric function approach augmented by impurity mode contributions. We determine four infrared-active transverse and longitudinal optical mode pairs, five localized impurity mode pairs, and the high frequency dielectric constant. All …

Entrepreneurial Based Project: Minority Owned Guardrail Installation Company, Nicholas Rubio

Construction Management

This company will provide commercial and highway guardrail installation services to the Northern California Region. The organization will retain a Minority Owned Business Certification and will operate under a Class C-32 License for Parking and Highway Improvement. Due to the large backlog of guardrail projects and the lack of qualified contractors in Northern California, the company plans to partner with existing firms that are unable to take on work. After firmly establishing ourselves in the private commercial market, the organization plans to migrate to public road work where the Minority Owned title can provide more benefit. Through this process we …

Improved Ballistic Limit Equations For High-Speed Non-Aluminum Projectiles Impacting Aluminum Dual-Wall Spacecraft Systems, William P. Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

One of the major design considerations of earth-orbiting spacecraft is the damage that might occur from an impact by a micrometeoroid or orbital debris particle. Ballistic limit equations (BLEs), which predict the response of spacecraft components under impact, are one of the key components of any micrometeoroid / orbital debris risk assessment calculation. However, given that a limited number of BLEs have been developed, analysts will sometimes use a BLE to assess the impact projectile made of a material that was not used in the development of that BLE. This paper presents the results of a two-part study that focused …

Mismatch In Ebg Common-Mode Filters Implemented On Pcbs, Marina Y. Koledintseva, Sergiu Radu, Joseph Nuebel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this article, impedance mismatch effects on the characteristics of common-mode (CM) electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) filters are studied using three-dimensional (3-D) full-wave numerical simulations. The CM EBG filters considered herein are designed using standard printed circuit board technology and contain either microstrip (MS) differential pairs running above the EBG plane, or strip line (SL) differential pairs running on one of the layers next to the EBG plane. First, the terminations are fixed at 50 Ω, and the effects of the differential line impedance variations on the EBG filter parameters are studied. Overall, the considered variations in the widths of the …

Inventory Management Of The Refrigerator's Produce Bins Using Classification Algorithms And Hand Analysis., Sarah Virginia Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tracking the inventory of one’s refrigerator has been a mission for consumers since the advent of the refrigerator. With the improvement of computer vision capabilities, automatic inventory systems are within reach. One inventory area with many potential benefits is the fresh food produce bins. The bins are a unique storage area due to their deep size. A user cannot easily see what is in the bins without opening the drawer. Produce items are also some of the quickest foods in the refrigerator to spoil, despite being temperature and humidity controlled to have the fruits and vegetables last longer. Allowing the …

Aeroacoustics Of Supersonic Jet Interacting With Solid Surfaces And Its Suppression, Seyyed Saman Salehian

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The noise generated by supersonic jet is of primary interest in the high-speed flight. In several flight conditions jet exhaust of the propulsion system interacts with solid surfaces. For example, jet impingement on ground for a rocket lift-off, or interactions influenced by the integration of the engine with the airframe. Such complex applications require consideration of the role of acoustic-surface interactions on the noise generation of the jet and its radiation. Numerical analysis of supersonic jet noise involved in these scenarios is investigated by employing Hybrid Large Eddy Simulation – Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Simulation approach to model turbulence.

First, the …

Uas Model Identification And Simulation To Support In-Flight Testing Of Discrete Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control Laws, Mansi Subhash Bakori

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In mission-critical applications of unmanned and autonomous aerial systems(UAS), it is of significant importance to develop robust strategies for fault-tolerant systems that can countermeasure system degradation and consequently support the integration into the National Airspace (NAS). This thesis research illustrates the results of systems identification that is performed using DATCOM followed by the flight test data. This data is acquired from conducting an intensive flight testings program of a fixed-wing UAS to determine the state-space model of the aircraft. A discrete state-space system is reconstructed from these models to derive Auto-Regressive Moving-Average (ARMA) models used to design a Discrete Direct …

Do Different Pathologies Affect The Relationship Between The Stiffness Of The Plantar Fascia And The Function Of The Mtp Joint?, Madeline Ryan Pauley

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Compared to healthy individuals, individuals with plantar fasciitis and diabetes experience material and structural property changes to soft tissues in the feet. The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship between material properties, power absorption, and energy storage characteristics to metatarsal power between healthy, plantar fasciitis symptomatic and asymptomatic, and diabetic participants. Investigating material change differences as well as energy storage and transfer trends in different pathology groups can lead to a better overall understanding of power transfer at the metatarsophalangeal joint (MTP). Participants were recruited for kinematic gait analysis and lower extremity shear wave elastography analysis and …

Validation Of Nanosecond Pulse Cancellation Using A Quadrupole Exposure System, Hollie A. Ryan

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) offer a plethora of opportunities for developing integrative technologies as complements or alternatives to traditional medicine. Studies on the biological effects of nsPEFs in vitro and in vivo have revealed unique characteristics that suggest the potential for minimized risk of complications in patients, such as the ability of unipolar nsEPs to create permanent or transient pores in cell membranes that trigger localized lethal or non-lethal outcomes without consequential heating. A more recent finding was that such responses could be diminished by applying a bipolar pulse instead, a phenomenon dubbed bipolar cancellation, paving the way …

Designing A Reactor Chamber For Hot Electron Chemistry On Bimetallic Plasmonic Nanoparticles, Bryn Merrill, Bingjie Zhang, Jerry Larue

SURF Posters and Papers

Catalysis provides pathways for efficient and selective chemical reactions by lowering the energy barriers for desired products. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) show excellent promise as plasmonic catalysts. Plasmonic materials have localized surface plasmon resonances, oscillations of the electron bath at the surface of a nanoparticle, that generate energetically intense electric fields which rapidly decay into energetically excited electrons. The excited electrons have the potential to destabilize atoms strongly bound to the catalysts through occupation of antibonding orbitals. Tuning the antibonding orbitals to make them accessible for occupancy by electrons is achieved by coating the AuNP in a thin layer of another …

Cooperative Target Tracking In Balanced Circular And Elliptical Formations, Lili Ma, Naira Hovakimyan

Publications and Research

This paper extends our earlier results on cooperative target tracking in cyclic pursuit using a group of mobile robots by further prescribing the formation radius and achieving an elliptical formation pattern. Prescribing the formation radius of a balanced circular formation is achieved by adjusting a parameter in the existing control input to each robot. The new elliptical formation pattern is obtained via a transformation matrix. Both single-integrator and double-integrator robot models are considered. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is demonstrated by simulation examples.

Application Of Neural Networks For Solving One Dimensional Inverse Heat Conduction Problems With Surface Ablation, Jian Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal protection systems (TPS) are critical for space vehicles to keep them safe against extensive aerothermal heating, particularly during the atmospheric entry. Ablative materials burn away gradually when subjected to extreme heat flux and therefore are considered as a practical option for TPS application. Measurement of TPS surface condition, particularly heat flux, is essential to reduce design margins and also improve active control strategies for damage avoidance. However, it is not possible to directly measure TPS surface heat flux, and alternative approaches must be utilized for this purpose. One method is to use temperature sensors at internal layers and solve …

Application Of Classification In Machine Learning: An Analysis Of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Systems Safety, Christopher John Helmer Cox

Theses and Dissertations

Highway-rail grade crossing accidents are the second leading cause of fatalities within the railway transportation industry. Highway-rail grade crossing fatality statistics have failed to improve over the last decade, and in some years have increased. Because of these trends, research has found that considerable Federal funding initiatives exist to support and develop contemporary risk reduction methodologies involving machine learning and artificial intelligence. In accord with these initiatives, this thesis investigates the highway-rail grade crossing safety problem using machine learning to implement an ensemble decision tree-based classification application. The resulting classifier has been validated to achieve a less than three percent …

Free Charge Carrier Properties In Two-Dimensional Materials And Monoclinic Oxides Studied By Optical Hall Effect, Sean Knight

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, optical Hall effect (OHE) measurements are used to determine the free charge carrier properties of important two-dimensional materials and monoclinic oxides. Two-dimensional material systems have proven useful in high-frequency electronic devices due to their unique properties, such as high mobility, which arise from their two-dimensional nature. Monoclinic oxides exhibit many desirable characteristics, for example low-crystal symmetry which could lead to anisotropic carrier properties. Here, single-crystal monoclinic gallium oxide, an AlInN/GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) structure, and epitaxial graphene are studied as examples. To characterize these material systems, the OHE measurement technique is employed. The OHE is a physical …

Enhanced Control Algorithms In Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines, Haibo Li

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) are gaining increasing popularity in various applications due to their advantages, such as high efficiency, high power density, and superior control performance. A well-designed machine control algorithm is indispensable for a PMSM system to secure its good performance.

In this work, enhanced control algorithms in PMSMs are developed. Online machine current trajectory tracking, source power management, hardware overcurrent regulation, and machine current sensor fault detection and isolation (FDI) are included in the developed algorithms. The online machine current trajectory tracking ensures the maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) or maximum torque per voltage (MTPV) control in …

An End-To-End Trainable Method For Generating And Detecting Fiducial Markers, J. Brennan Peace

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Existing fiducial markers are designed for efficient detection and decoding. The methods are computationally efficient and capable of demonstrating impressive results, however, the markers are not explicitly designed to stand out in natural environments and their robustness is difficult to infer from relatively limited analysis. Worsening performance in challenging image capture scenarios - such as poorly exposed images, motion blur, and off-axis viewing - sheds light on their limitations. The method introduced in this work is an end-to-end trainable method for designing fiducial markers and a complimentary detector. By introducing back-propagatable marker augmentation and superimposition into training, the method learns …

Intelligent Algorithm For Trapezoidal Interval Valued Neutrosophic Network Analysis, Florentin Smarandache, Said Broumi, Deivanayagampillai Nagarajan, Malayalan Lathamaheswari, Mohamed Talea, Assia Bakali

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The shortest path problem has been one of the most fundamental practical problems in network analysis. One of the good algorithms is Bellman-Ford, which has been applied in network, for the last some years. Due to complexity in the decision-making process, the decision makers face complications to express their view and judgment with an exact number for single valued membership degrees under neutrosophic environment. Though the interval number is a special situation of the neutrosophic, it did not solve the shortest path problems in an absolute manner. Hence, in this work, the authors have introduced the score function and accuracy …

The Role Of Information And Communication Technology (Ict) In Securing Books In Irish Academic Libraries., Emmanuel Oguche

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined how effective the ICT gadgets are used in securing books in academic libraries and what technological approach the libraries will adopt in the future to ensure books are secured from mutilation and theft. The study was also to understand why students steal or mutilate books. A semi-structured interview was the qualitative research design used to collect data from six librarians. It was discovered that the libraries had adopted the use of ICT security gadgets like Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, surveillance cameras, self-service machine, magnetic strips. The combined use of these gadgets led to the drastic reduction of …

Cyber-Assets At Risk (Car): Monetary Impact Of Personally Identifiable Information Data Breaches On Companies, Omer Ilker Poyraz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Cyber-systems provide convenience, ubiquity, economic advantage, and higher efficiency to both individuals and organizations. However, vulnerabilities of the cyber domain also offer malicious actors with the opportunities to compromise the most sensitive information. Recent cybersecurity incidents show that a group of hackers can cause a massive data breach, resulting in companies losing competitive advantage, reputation, and money. Governments have since taken some actions in protecting individuals and companies from such crime by authorizing federal agencies and developing regulations. To protect the public from losing their most sensitive records, governments have also been compelling companies to follow cybersecurity regulations. If companies …

Secure Mobile Computing By Using Convolutional And Capsule Deep Neural Networks, Rui Ning

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Mobile devices are becoming smarter to satisfy modern user's increasing needs better, which is achieved by equipping divers of sensors and integrating the most cutting-edge Deep Learning (DL) techniques. As a sophisticated system, it is often vulnerable to multiple attacks (side-channel attacks, neural backdoor, etc.). This dissertation proposes solutions to maintain the cyber-hygiene of the DL-Based smartphone system by exploring possible vulnerabilities and developing countermeasures.

First, I actively explore possible vulnerabilities on the DL-Based smartphone system to develop proactive defense mechanisms. I discover a new side-channel attack on smartphones using the unrestricted magnetic sensor data. I demonstrate that attackers can …

Possible Self Dynamics Of Community College Students Engaged In 3d Printing In Informal Environments, Lawrence Ralph Nightingale Jr.

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The overall number of students from diverse backgrounds and women that graduate from community college with degrees in high paying Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is unacceptably low. The number of opportunities to gain exposure to STEM-based expressions of technology to overcome the dearth of exposure in high school is limited in community college. 3D Printing uses computer-controlled machines to build physical objects one layer at a time starting from the bottom up. The computer-controlled nature of 3D Printing provides a low risk, low cost platform to exercise elements of computer programming and engineering.

This study was a …

A Novel Non-Enzymatic Glucose Biofuel Cell With Mobile Glucose Sensing, Ankit Baingane

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Herein, we report a novel non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell with mobile glucose sensing. We characterized the power generation and biosensing capabilities in presence of glucose analyte. This system was developed using a non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell consisting of colloidal platinum coated gold microwire (Au-co-Pt) employed as an anode and the cathode which was constructed using a Gas diffusion electrode (GDE) with a platinum catalyst. The non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell produced a maximum open circuit voltage of 0.54 V and delivered and a maximum short circuit current density of 1.6 mA/cm2 with a peak power density of 0.226 mW/cm2 at a …

Airline Brand Experience Passengers’ Perceptions Of The Big Three Carriers In The United States, Sarinthree Udchachone

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to observe passengers’ perceptions about brand experience research in the airline industry by applying a transcendental or descriptive phenomenological methodology designed to evaluate interview transcriptions and organize derived knowledge into defined themes. The NVivo program was utilized to analyze data from textual transcriptions. The experiences of passengers of the Big Three United States legacy carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, were described. The participants comprised three couples and seven individuals, all frequent-flyer members of the Big Three carriers and their partnering global airline alliances. The researcher-constructed instrument was used for …

Beacon Aided Robotics For Martian Cave Mapping, Ryan Joseph Capozzi

Theses and Dissertations

At present, lava tubes on the Moon and Mars have been left wholly unexplored. There are many aspects of subterranean exploration that pose additional challenges over surface exploration, and one of these issues is in localization. This project seeks to expand upon the traditional communication beacon that is dropped behind a robotic operator in subterranean environments and make low cost and low power modifications to increase their functionality by making robot localization from these beacons possible. This has been tested with the use of LED beacons that could be easily added to current solutions and used for localization of the …