Engineering Commons^™

Using An Embedded Researcher Approach To Explore Student Outcomes And Relationship Development During An Intensive Engineering Apprenticeship Program, Lori M. Caldwell, Angela Minichiello

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the emotions, outcomes, and interpersonal relationship development of high school aged students who participated in a three-week intensive engineering apprenticeship program (EAP) during the summer of 2019. This EAP introduces students to engineering by placing them in teams and asking them to build an underwater vehicle that can complete a timed obstacle course. Program mentors provide minimal lecture based instruction and focus on encouraging each team to create their own unique design. The primary purpose of the EAP is to increase student interest in engineering by improving student understanding of …

Revolutionizing The Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Curriculum, Shelby Ann Mcneilly, Krishna Pakala, Donald Plumlee

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the age of technological advancement and occupational opportunity continues to progress, companies must be constantly adjusting and transforming in order to accommodate industry demands. With these quickly developing requirements comes an expectation of employee experience and skill sets. For individuals seeking a career in mechanical engineering, moving forward with the tools necessary for success in this continuously evolving world begins with higher education. This paper is the first of a three-part series to report on the progress of Boise State University’s Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Department’s mission to implement a revolutionized curriculum in their academic program. This paper will …

Cyber-Physical Systems Security Introductory Course For Stem Students, Sin Ming Loo, Liljana Babinkostova

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We are witnessing the rapid development and adoption of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). CPS refers to the integration of digital and internetworked components, and physical devices in systems that affect nearly everyone in society. These devices are always connected to the internet. This connectivity gives CPS devices the capability of being in continuous monitoring mode where data and information are delivered to device owners through a proxy server. These capabilities open up all kinds of security issues for a device that has been built with such features with little regard for security considerations. At present, many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics …

Student Perception Of Mathematical Modeling Before And After Completing A Two Joint Robot Computer Simulation Task (Rtp), Laurel Johnston, Noah Salzman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Engineers frequently utilize computer simulation as part of their design processes to model and understand the behavior of complex systems. Simulation is also an important tool for developing students’ understanding of modeling and strengthening their intuition for problem solving in complex domains. This project uses a two-joint robot arm problem and accompanying computer simulation to demonstrate to AP BC Calculus students how and why we would use calculus concepts simultaneously in Cartesian and polar coordinate systems. We developed the simulation in a way that allows students to experience mathematical modeling in an applications-based engineering context. A small cohort of students …

Lasting Impacts Of A Summer Bridge And Outdoor Experience Program On Student Relationships: A Social Network Analysis, Noah Salzman, Ann E. Delaney, Catherine Rose Bates, Donna C. Llewellyn

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this Complete Research paper, we present a social network analysis of an academic summer bridge and outdoor experience program designed to support the social and academic integration of incoming STEM majors at Boise State University. Summer bridge programs can support students through both the development of academic skills and the creation of intentional community and peer support networks which can facilitate students’ sense of belonging in both their chosen major and at the university. Alumni from the past five years of the program received a survey asking them to indicate their connections to other participants, faculty, and staff associated …

Development And Evaluation Of Dimensionally Adaptive Techniques For Improving Computational Efficiency Of Radiative Heat Transfer Calculations In Cylindrical Combustors, Todd Andrew Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Computational time to model radiative heat transfer in a cylindrical Pressurized Oxy-Coal (POC) combustor was reduced by incorporating the multi-dimensional characteristics of the combustion field. The Discrete Transfer Method (DTM) and the Discrete Ordinates Method (DOM) were modified to work with a computational mesh that transitions from 3D cells to axisymmetric and then 1D cells, also known as a dimensionally adaptive mesh. For the DTM, three methods were developed for selecting so-called transdimensional rays, the Single Unweighted Ray (SUR) technique, the Multiple Unweighted Ray (MUR) technique, and the Single Weighted Ray (SWR) technique. For the DOM, averaging methods for handling …

What Is The Derivative Of Music?, Thad B. Welch, Cameron H. G. Wright, Michael G. Morrow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In our continuing effort to prove to students that Signals & Systems is not just another mathematics course taught by the ECE Department, we ask the question, “What is the Derivative of Music?”

The first-order difference (or first-difference) is an incredibly simple algorithm that very accurately approximates the numeric derivative operator, especially for oversampled signals. Its inverse also accurately approximates the numeric integration operator, but not without numeric difficulty.

Given a real-time demonstration using winDSK8, we can now show students that these mathematical operators provide powerful signal processing filtering tools for real-world signals.

During this ASEE session, we will include …

Dynamic Response Of Highway Bridge Superstructures Subjected To Wave Action: Experimental Analysis And Numerical Modeling, Alaa Waleed Hameed

Dissertations and Theses

Bridges are critical lifeline components of the infrastructure network, enabling economies to function under normal conditions and disaster response and recovery missions to take place after extreme events. Therefore, ensuring satisfactory performance increases community resilience and minimizes both human and economic losses. Coastal bridges, which are the focus of this PhD dissertation, are vulnerable to coastal storms. High failure rates of these bridges during two major hurricane events in the mid-2000s have spurred research activities to better understand the wave-induced forces of coastal bridges.

This PhD research represents a continuation effort to build, implement, and introduce new fundamental concepts and …

Work In Progress: Students' Perception Of Collaborative Online International Learning, Philip Appiah-Kubi, Jennifer Nichwitz

Engineering Management and Systems Faculty Publications

Teaching and learning in the digital age harness the opportunities created by internet technologies to distribute and learn various information all over the world. This is commonly referred to as connectivism, and it values the impact of stakeholder information appraisal skills, virtual and personal communication skills [1], and the sense of cultural awareness. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), a type of connectivism, typically involves instructors and students from at least two geographically and culturally distinct areas who collaborate virtually on a common project for four or more weeks.

The objective is to create a culturally diverse virtual environment where students …

Design Aspects, Energy Consumption Evaluation, And Offset For Drinking Water Treatment Operation, Saria Bukhary, Jacimaria Batista, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, and water distribution are energy-intensive processes. The goal of this study was to design the unit processes of an existing drinking water treatment plant (DWTP), evaluate the associated energy consumption, and then offset it using solar photovoltaics (PVs) to reduce carbon emissions. The selected DWTP, situated in the southwestern United States, utilizes coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and chlorination to treat 3.94 m3 of local river water per second. Based on the energy consumption determined for each unit process (validated using the plant’s data) and the plant’s available landholding, the DWTP was sized for solar PV …

Senior Capstone Team Formation Based On Project Interest: Team Selection By Students Compared To Team Selection By Instructors, Peter Schuster, Lauren Anne Cooper, Eltahry Elghandour, Eileen W. Rossman, Sarah Harding, Brian P. Self

Mechanical Engineering

Assigning teams in large courses is logistically challenging and students are sometimes unhappy with their assigned team. This is exacerbated when the project work extends over multiple terms and teams have unique projects. Giving students some agency in team and project selection is one way to improve their project experience. This paper examines two key questions: (a) What is the best way to incorporate student interests into the team-forming process? (b) What impact does the team-forming process have on the student experience throughout the project?

We consider two different approaches to giving students agency in the team formation / project …

One-Dimensional Sensor Learns To Sense Three-Dimensional Space, Chen Zhu, Rex E. Gerald, Yizheng Chen, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A sensor system with ultra-high sensitivity, high resolution, rapid response time, and a high signal-to-noise ratio can produce raw data that is exceedingly rich in information, including signals that have the appearances of "noise". The "noise"feature directly correlates to measurands in orthogonal dimensions, and are simply manifestations of the off-diagonal elements of 2nd-order tensors that describe the spatial anisotropy of matter in physical structures and spaces. The use of machine learning techniques to extract useful meanings from the rich information afforded by ultra-sensitive one-dimensional sensors may offer the potential for probing mundane events for novel embedded phenomena. Inspired by our …

Embedding Computer Simulation Based Classroom Activities To Enhance The Learning Experience For Manufacturing Systems, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, Md Fashiar Rahman, Richard Chiou, Ivan Arturo Renteria-Marquez, Aditya Akundi, Amit J. Lopes, Jeevarathinam Senthilkumar

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

In recent time, manufacturing environment are bracing higher end technologies to achieve high productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Due to the adoption of the sophisticated technologies, the system is becoming very complex and stochastic. Moreover, the manufacturing system is interconnected among its different subsystems and components, which cannot be described only through the theoretical explanation. Here, computer simulation can be integrated to design and visualize the stochastic and complex system. This paper uses the advantage of simulation to describe a series classroom activity using SIMIO software, which are deployed in industrial systems simulation course in the University of Texas at El …

Mechatronics And Robotics Education: Standardizing Foundational Key Concepts, Kevin Stanley Mcfall, Kevin Huang, Hunter B. Gilbert, Musa K. Jouaneh, He Bai, David M. Auslander

Engineering: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Purdue Mission To Mars 2.0: A Learn-By-Doing Approach To Recruiting, Rustin Webster, Matthew Turner

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In the summer of 2018, a prior award winning and effective learn-by-doing recruiting event for Purdue Polytechnic New Albany (PPNA) was revamped since its inception in 2015 and delivered to 28 secondary education students. The authors’ internal, emotional drive to improve the recruiting event and host such a complex, dynamic, and hands-on engineering design and robotics experience again, was in hopes that students would be inspired to choose technology-related majors and apply to PPNA. The purpose of this descriptive nonexperimental study is to investigate the actual impact Purdue Mission to Mars (PMTM) 2.0 had on the students’ self-reported interest in …

Integrating Professional Skills And Leadership Into An Undergraduate Engineering Program, Harold Ackler, Heidi Reeder, Abbey Louie

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research and practical experience indicate that leadership and “people skills” play an important role in the success of organizations and in the careers of employees across many industries, including engineering. The Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University identified a need to expand available opportunities for its students to develop these critical “soft” skills. The approach taken sought to imitate how such training is conducted in the workplace, integrating it within a context of extended team-based projects. In partnership with the College of Innovation + Design’s Leadership Certificate Program, a series of sequential modules were developed …

Thermal Conductivity And Diffusivity Measurement Assessment For Nuclear Materials Raman Thermometry For Uranium Dioxide And Needle Probe For Molten Salts, Peter Ward Hartvigsen

Theses and Dissertations

In the near future, Gen II, III, and IV nuclear reactors will be in operation. UO2 is a common fuel for reactors in each of these generations and molten salts are used as coolant/fuel in Gen IV molten salt reactors. This thesis investigates potential ways to measure thermal conductivity for these materials: Raman thermometry for UO2 and a needle probe for molten salts. Four Raman thermometry techniques are investigated in this thesis: The Two Laser Raman (TLR), Time Differential Domain Raman (TDDR), Frequency Resolved Raman (FRR), and Frequency Domain Raman (FDR). The TLR is a steady state method used with …

An Assessment Of The Decision-Making Units' Efficiency In Service Systems, Maoloud Yakhlif Dabab

Dissertations and Theses

Most tools and models of performance and quality of service management are generic and do not solve complex technical systems. The critical components of the system need such tools to assess their efficiency to make a better decision about them. One of the primary objectives in the service systems is to improve the ability of efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of critical assets. One of the challenges with improving critical assets is the amount of major capital spending needed to upgrade a technology infrastructure with a high obsolescence rate. This along with usage and reliability issues, makes evaluating mobile cells to …

Approximate Computing For Application Performance In Heterogenous Systems, Himadri Sekhar Paul, Arijit Mukherjee, Arpan Pal, Ansuman Banerjee

Patents

A system and method for determining a configuration of a plurality of tasks to meet the specified deadline of a linear workflow of a real - time heterogeneous network . Often times , while meeting expected application performance in the heterogeneous network , it may possible to have graceful degradation of quality for ensuring timing constraints at the same time . In a multi - layered architecture , where each layer is equipped with multiple computational resources , the time optimization for each of the plurality of tasks can be achieved through approximate computing and analyzing all possible configurations of …

Quantifying The Environmental Impacts Of Cookstove Transitions A Societal Exergy Analysis Based Model Of Energy Consumption And Forest Stocks In Honduras, Noah Ver Beek, Elvin Vindel, Matthew K. Heun, Paul E. Brockway

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Unsustainable consumption of biofuels contributes to deforestation and climate change, while household air pollution from burning solid biofuels in homes results in millions of premature deaths globally every year. Honduras, like many low and medium Human Development Index countries, depends on primary solid biofuels for more than 30% of its primary energy supply (as of 2013). We conducted a societal exergy analysis and developed a forest stock model for Honduras for 1971–2013 and used the results to model an energy transition from traditional wood stoves to either improved efficiency wood cookstoves or modern fuel cookstoves (using Electricity or Liquefied petroleum …

Privileging Learning Over Numbers: Developing An Alternative Student Assessment In Engineering, Eleazar Marquez, Samuel Garcia

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

In this research study, a new model to assess student performance and academic learning in engineering disciplines is proposed with the intention of shifting a grade driven mentality into a learning-oriented mindset. The rational for this model of assessment is to disrupt normalized assessment practices in higher education, reframe student thinking regarding learning and acquisition of knowledge, and encourage students to engage in coursework in meaningful ways. Unfortunately, grades in higher education have become a primary focal point for many students as a means to secure internship opportunities, undergraduate research, post-graduation employment, and graduate school acceptance into desired institutions. The …

Hyaluronic Acid Coated Targeted Lipid Micellar Nanoparticle As A Delivery Vehicle For Lapatinib And Ketoconazole In Egfr Mutated Lung Cancer, Nadia Tasnim Ahmed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer was accountable for over 142,000 deaths in the USA in 2019. Common mutations related to lung cancer mainly occur in TP53, EGFR, and KRAS genes. Lapatinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor which acts reversibly on both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Overexpression of EGFR leads to increased production and signaling of proteins that cause upregulation of cellular proliferation, cholesterol synthesis and resistance to apoptosis. Ketoconazole is an imidazole antifungal agent which works principally by inhibiting the enzyme cytochrome P450 14α-demethylase (CYP51A1) …

Ultralow-Light-Level Color Image Reconstruction Using High-Efficiency Plasmonic Metasurface Mosaic Filters, Ximing Ren

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

As single-photon imaging becomes progressively more commonplace in sensing applications such as low-light-level imaging, three-dimensional profiling, and fluorescence imaging, there exist a number of fields where multispectral information can also be exploited, e.g., in environmental monitoring and target identification. We have fabricated a high-transmittance mosaic filter array, where each optical filter was composed of a plasmonic metasurface fabricated in a single lithographic step. This plasmonic metasurface design utilized an array of elliptical and circular nanoholes, which produced enhanced optical coupling between multiple plasmonic interactions. The resulting metasurfaces produced narrow bandpass filters for blue, green, and red light with peak transmission …

Flow Simulation Considering Adsorption Boundary Layer Based On Digital Rock And Finite Element Method, Yong Fei Yang, Ke Wang, Qian Fei Lv, Roohollah Askari, Qing Yan Mei, Jun Yao, Jie Xin Hou, Kai Zhang, Ai Fen Li, Chen Chen Wang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Due to the low permeability of tight reservoirs, throats play a significant role in controlling fluid flow. Although many studies have been conducted to investigate fluid flow in throats in the microscale domain, comparatively fewer works have been devoted to study the effect of adsorption boundary layer (ABL) in throats based on the digital rock method. By considering an ABL, we investigate its effects on fluid flow. We build digital rock model based on computed tomography technology. Then, microscopic pore structures are extracted with watershed segmentation and pore geometries are meshed through Delaunay triangulation approach. Finally, using the meshed digital …

Multipath Exploitation-Based Indoor Target Localization Model Using Single Marginal Antenna, Joseph Sisala

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Recently, indoor target localization became an area of interest due to its diverse applications. In indoor target localization, surrounding environment creates multipath components, which can be exploited to aid in localization process. A number of studies have been proposed to employ multipath exploitation in localizing indoor targets. However, their localization errors can still be improved. This study proposed a new localization model based on multipath exploitation techniques by using triangulation method. Ultra-wide band signals were resolved and associated using marginal antenna-based scheme. The estimate of the target location was then obtained using measured round-trip time delays. The location was determined …

Automatic Delamination Segmentation For Bridge Deck Based On Encoder-Decoder Deep Learning Through Uav-Based Thermography, Chongsheng Cheng, Zhexiong Shang, Zhigang Shen

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Faculty Publications

Concrete deck delamination often demonstrates strong variations in size, shape, and temperature distribution under the influences of outdoor weather conditions. The strong variations create challenges for pure analytical solutions in infrared image segmentation of delaminated areas. The recently developed supervised deep learning approach demonstrated the potentials in achieving automatic segmentation of RGB images. However, its effectiveness in segmenting thermal images remains under-explored. The main challenge lies in the development of specific models and the generation of a large range of labeled infrared images for training. To address this challenge, a customized deep learning model based on encoder-decoder architecture is proposed …

Evaluating Cracking Performance Of Polymer Enhanced And Fiber Reinforced Microsurface Mixtures Using Asphalt Laboratory Testing, George Joseph Shackil

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a method to improve and evaluate the cracking resistance of microsurfacing mixtures using common asphalt laboratory testing. A preliminary optimal timing study and a study to evaluate improvements to cracking performance were conducted. The control mixture was based on NJDOT standard mix design specifications. Three mixtures were tested in this study: a fiber reinforced mixture using one-quarter inch glass fibers, an emulsion with increased SBR (polymer) contents, and a mixture using the one-quarter inch glass fibers combined with the increased polymer contents. Three laboratory tests were used to evaluate three different cracking resistance parameters: crack initiation (Semi-Circular …

Distributed Firewall For Iot, Ryan Lund, Anthony Fenzl, Chelsea Villanueva

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Minimal local resources, lack of consistency in low level protocols and market pressures contribute to IoT devices being more vulnerable than traditional computing devices. These devices not only have a wide variety of processors and implementations, but they often serve different purposes and generate unique network traffic. Current IoT network security solutions fail to account for and handle both the scale at which IoT devices can be deployed and the heterogeneous nature of the traffic they produce. In order to accommodate these differences and improve on current solutions, we propose the implementation of a microsegmented firewall for IoT networks. Unlike …

Climate Change Impacts The Subsurface Transport Of Atrazine And Estrone Originating From Agricultural Production Activities, Renys Enrique Barrios, Simin Akbariyeh, Chuyang Liu, Khalid Muzamil Gani, Margarita T. Kovalchuk, Xu Li, Yusong Li, Daniel D. Snow, Zhenghong Tang, John Gates, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Climate change will impact soil properties such as soil moisture, organic carbon and temperature and changes in these properties will influence the sorption, biodegradation and leaching of trace organic contaminants to groundwater. In this study, we conducted a modeling case study to evaluate atrazine and estrone transport in the subsurface under current and future climate conditions at a field site in central Nebraska. According to the modeling results, in the future, enhanced evapotranspiration and increased average air temperature may cause drier soil conditions, which consequently reduces the biodegradation of atrazine and estrone in the water phase. On the other hand, …

Increasing The Manufacturing Readiness Of Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding, Brigham Ammon Larsen

Theses and Dissertations

Refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) is an emerging technology, capable of joining thin sheets of aluminum alloys. The present thesis comprises two studies which were conducted to address two challenges faced by RFSSW: the long cycle time traditionally associated with welding and the poor life of existing RFFSW tools. In the first study, welds were made in AA5052-H36, at various cycle times and with various process parameters. It was shown that RPM, cycle time, and material thickness, all have an effect on the machine response. Decreasing RPM or weld duration leads to increased force and torque response during welding. …