Engineering Commons^™

Quantitative Prediction Of Fractures In Shale Using The Lithology Combination Index, Zhengchen Zhang, Pingping Li, Yujie Yuan, Kouqi Liu, Jingyu Hao, Huayao Zou

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Fractures, which are related to tectonic activity and lithology, have a significant impact on the storage and production of oil and gas in shales. To analyze the impact of lithological factors on fracture development in shales, we selected the shale formation from the Da’anzhai member of the lower Jurassic shales in a weak tectonic deformation zone in the Sichuan Basin. We defined a lithology combination index (LCI), that is, an attribute quantity value of some length artificially defined by exploring the lithology combination. LCI contains information on shale content at a …

An Experimental Study On Micro-Structural And Geotechnical Characteristics Of Expansive Clay Mixed With Eps Granules, Nitin Tiwari, Neelima Satyam, Sanjay Kumar Shukla

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Pavement structures constructed on the expansive soil subgrade experience a higher upward pressure compared to any other subgrade material. The upward pressure is caused due to high swelling and shrinkage characteristics of expansive clay soil. The present study has investigated and identified the mechanisms by which a remolded expansive soil can be modified to reduce the upward pressure and swelling (heave). To achieve this, a lightweight, environmentally friendly, and high pressure resistive expanded polystyrene (EPS) granules have been used with expansive soil s from three different locations of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The study has been performed to …

Work-In-Progress: Augmented Reality System For Vehicle Health Diagnostics And Maintenance, Yuzhong Shen, Anthony W. Dean, Rafael Landaeta

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper discusses undergraduate research to develop an augmented reality (AR) system for diagnostics and maintenance of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) employed by U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. The JLTV’s diagnostic information will be accessed by attaching a Bluetooth adaptor (Ford Reference Vehicle Interface) to JLTV’s On-board diagnostics (OBD) system. The proposed AR system will be developed for mobile devices (Android and iOS tablets and phones) and it communicates with the JLTV’s OBD via Bluetooth. The AR application will contain a simplistic user interface that reads diagnostic data from the JLTV, shows vehicle sensors, and allows users …

Meeting Temporary Facility Energy Demand With Climate-Optimized Off-Grid Energy Systems, Jay F. Pearson, Torrey J. Wagner, Justin D. Delorit, Steven J. Schuldt

Faculty Publications

Remote and contingency operations, including military and disaster-relief activities, often require the use of temporary facilities powered by inefficient diesel generators that are expensive to operate and maintain. Site planners can reduce operating costs by increasing shelter insulation and augmenting generators with photovoltaic-battery hybrid energy systems, but they must select the optimal design configuration based on the region’s climate to meet the power demand at the lowest cost. To assist planners, this paper proposes an innovative, climate-optimized, hybrid energy system selection model capable of selecting the facility insulation type, solar array size, and battery backup system to minimize the annual …

The Role Of Α, Γ, And Metastable Polymorphs On Electrospun Polyamide 6/Functionalized Graphene Oxide, Javier Macossay-Torres, Yazmin I. Avila-Vega, Faheem A. Sheikh, Travis Cantu, Francisco E. Longoria-Rodriguez, Edgar H. Ramirez-Soria, Rigoberto C. Advincula, Jose Bonilla-Cruz

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

The present paper describes the addition of nitroxide-functionalized graphene oxide (GOFT) into polyamide 6 (PA6) micro- and nanofibers, which were obtained through electrospinning. SEM micrographs demonstrated the presence of fibers. Tensile testing presented an unexpected and non-obvious behavior, in which the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation simultaneously and remarkably increased compared to the pristine polymer nanofibers. GOFT induces the hydrogen bonding between the NH group from PA6 with the functional groups, thus promoting higher crystallinity of the polymer matrix. Nonetheless, deconvoluted DSC curves revealed the presence of two quasi-steady polymorphous (b and d phases) contributing to 46% of the …

Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, And Mobile Computing: Building The Pipeline Of Next-Generation University Graduates Through Focused High School Summer Camps, Mahmoud K. Quweider, Fitratullah Khan, Liyu Zhang, Lei Xu, Yessica Rodriguez, Yessenia Rodriguez

Computer Science Faculty Publications

To prepare the next generation of skilled university graduates that would help in filling the national need for cybersecurity, digital forensics, and mobile computing professionals, a team of minority/under-represented graduate students, the University Upward Bound Program (a federally funded program and part of the U.S. Department of Education; one of 967 programs nationwide) staff, and faculty from the Computer Science (CS) department got together and proposed a focused 10-week long funded summer camp for two local high schools with the following objectives:

1. Provide graduate students to instruct in the areas of` mobile application development, forensics and cyber Security.

2. …

Flexibly Serving A Finite Number Of Heterogeneous Jobs In A Tandem System, Yun Fong Lim, Bingnan Lu, Rowan Wang, Wenjia Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many manufacturing and service systems require a finite number of heterogeneous jobs to be processed by two stations in tandem. Each station serves at most one job at a time and there is a finite buffer between the two stations. We consider two flexible servers that are cross-trained to work at both stations. The duration for a server to finish a job at a station is exponentially distributed with a rate that depends on the server, the station, and the job. Our goal is to identify an efficient policy to dynamically assign the servers to the stations such that the …

A Multi-Criteria Logistics Analysis Of Photovoltaic Modules For Remote Applications, Nathan Thomsen, Dimitri Papazoglou, Torrey J. Wagner, Andrew J. Hoisington, Steven J. Schuldt

Faculty Publications

Reliable electrical power grids are frequently unavailable or inaccessible in remote locations, including developing nation communities, humanitarian relief camps, isolated construction sites, and military contingency bases. This often requires sites to rely on costly generators and continuous fuel supply. Renewable energy systems (RES) in the form of photovoltaic (PV) arrays and energy storage present a rapidly improving alternative to power these remote locations. Previous RES literature and PV optimization models focused on economics, reliability, and environmental concerns, neglecting the importance of logistics factors in remote installations. This paper proposes additional optimization variables applicable to remote PV systems and compares PV …

Nature-Inspired Electrode Materials For Next Generation Sustainable Energy Storage, Mikhail Miroshnikov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite revolutionizing the world of portable electronics, the contemporary lithium-ion battery (LIB) suffers from challenges associated with the cost, safety, and environmental impact of transition metal oxide-based intercalation cathodes. To alleviate these issues, naturally occurring organic molecules may serve as sustainable alternatives to traditional inorganic cathode materials. The electrochemical properties of organic compounds are derived from redox-active functional groups containing oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. Additionally, these functional groups are capable of coordinating metal ions beyond lithium, allowing for compatibility with sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and other earth abundant metal-based energy storage systems. However, despite competitive performance against commercialized cathode materials, much …

Poly (Lactic Acid)/Nanoclay Nanocomposites For Packaging Applications, Maissa Akram Adi

Theses

With increasing stringent environmental regulations and attempts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels for polymer production, bio-based polymers are receiving appreciable global attention. In this context, bio-based poly (lactic acid) (PLA) is one of the most frequently used polymers in packaging applications. However, despite of its high versatility, this polymer is limited in packaging applications due to its low mechanical properties. The two-dimensional nanofillers such as nanoclay and graphene are well known for improving the thermo-mechanical properties of polymers at low concentrations. However, increasing higher filler concentration to improve barrier properties of polymers reduces their mechanical properties which is a …

Sensing, Computing, And Communications For Energy Harvesting Iots: A Survey, Dong Ma, Guohao Lan, Mahbub Hassan, Wen Hu, Sajal K. Das

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the growing number of deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure for a wide variety of applications, the battery maintenance has become a major limitation for the sustainability of such infrastructure. To overcome this problem, energy harvesting offers a viable alternative to autonomously power IoT devices, resulting in a number of battery-less energy harvesting IoTs (or EH-IoTs) appearing in the market in recent years. Standards activities are also underway, which involve wireless protocol design suitable for EH-IoTs as well as testing procedures for various energy harvesting methods. Despite the early commercial and standards activities, IoT sensing, computing and communications …

Transferring And Regularizing Prediction For Semantic Segmentation, Yiheng Zhang, Zhaofan Qiu, Ting Yao, Chong-Wah Ngo, Dong Liu, Tao Mei

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Semantic segmentation often requires a large set of images with pixel-level annotations. In the view of extremely expensive expert labeling, recent research has shown that the models trained on photo-realistic synthetic data (e.g., computer games) with computer-generated annotations can be adapted to real images. Despite this progress, without constraining the prediction on real images, the models will easily overfit on synthetic data due to severe domain mismatch. In this paper, we novelly exploit the intrinsic properties of semantic segmentation to alleviate such problem for model transfer. Specifically, we present a Regularizer of Prediction Transfer (RPT) that imposes the intrinsic properties …

Rapid Manufacturing Of Critical Industrial Parts: A Method Based On Reverse Engineering, Rapid Prototyping, And Coordinate Metrology, Immanuel Edinbarough, Aditya Akundi

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a method of rapidly manufacturing industrial parts that are critical to the production. In order to assist the Advanced Manufacturing industry, a senior project team at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) applied Rapid Manufacturing (RM) to manufacture or fabricate critical machine parts used to maintain production machines. Failures of parts and tools in industrial settings cost money and hurt output. Usually, the problem arises when the tooling being used is one of a kind and repair or replacements come with long leadtimes. Other problems are encountered when original part or tool engineering drawing is …

Antecedents Of Career Development Success: Insights Into 10 Years Of Research, Sara Karam Nassredine, Nasser Fathi Easa

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

This paper intends to review a flow of previous literature on the antecedents of career development success over ten years, from 2008 to 2018. A systematic literature review has been employed to extract the constitution of literature. A total of 41 relevant articles have been extracted from 16 different top ranked journals. Drawing on the literature, a conceptual model is provided as a clear depiction of what has been studied. Specifically, dependent, independents, mediators, and moderators variables are determined. The systematic literature review identifies six main themes; leadership, organizational and individual commitment, talent management, human resources management practices, career management …

Guidelines For Sustainable Construction Methods To Build Over Difficult Topographies, Israa R. Fadel, Marwan Halabi, Hiba Mohsen, Maged Youssef

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Sustainable construction development is a recent term that is required to create an eco-friendly built environment using renewable and recyclable resources and to reduce energy consumption and waste within protecting the natural environment. This term means such an improvement that pleases the current requirements without limitation of the prospect of sustaining requirements in future. Many problems face builders while executing projects, especially these projects were decided to be built over difficult topographies, such as rivers, falls, inclinations, caves, ridges, cliffs, and mountains. Construction challenges to build a project over a difficult topography are diverse starting by executing piles, retaining walls, …

The Reflection Of Effective Interactive Graphic Design, George Nader Naguib Morcos

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Graphic design has a rich history as a creative practice, which connects different design elements to build effective message. It combines typography and visual elements like Illustrations or photos to create a visual message, graphic design is considered as an important branch in the modern communication technology. Graphic design nowadays has becoming more advanced and moves from the static phase to the dynamic phase which includes unlimited technologies like virtual reality, 3D motion and interactivity, which becomes one of the important factors that affects the successes of the visual communication or the message that has to be sent via the …

Effect Of Different Visible Light Curing Systems On The Color Stability Of Resin Cements, Mohamed A. Ibrahim, Ehab A. Farghaly, Sherine B.Y. Badr

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The present study aimed to compare the color stability of zirconia cemented veneers, using self-etch adhesive cement after curing with various systems and aging process. Materials and methods: A total of 27 veneers zirconia samples were cemented using resin cement on 27 labially prepared extracted anterior teeth to reach a flat surface, and classified into three groups according to the light curing units (LCU); Group I (Cured with Polywave Ivoclar Bluephase style LCU), Group II (Cured with Polywave Woodpecker iLED LCU), Group III (Cured with Monowave 3M Elipar LCU). Results: Monowave LCU exhibited significantly higher color changes than the polywave …

Re-Interpretation Of City’S Radial Expansion In The Developing Countries Through Green Affordable Housingcase Study: Greater Sour Southern Expansion Axis, Lebanon, Maged Youssef, Aya Dikmak

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The footprint of the city is at major risk. Cities are growing out in a fast and unplanned way thus increasing ground stress, both environmentally and economically. When the population increases, the suburbs are exposed to an amorphous expansion, which leads to a modification in the form and content of the city’s periphery. Greater Sour is one of the coastal cities in Lebanon that passed through major phases of expansion over time and has the potential for major future growth. This growth is resulting in a radial-shaped structure located along the major roads linking the city to the surrounding towns. …

Monitoring Participatory Approaches In Mediterranean Waterfront Developments (El Mina, Lebanon; Alexandria, Egypt; And Antalya, Turkey), Sima El-Cheikh, Mary Felix, Nabil Mohareb, Ibtihal Y. El-Bastawissi

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Public participation is an important tool for communities to influence development decisions for public spaces in general and waterfronts in particular. In coastal cities, waterfronts are an important touristic attraction and are affected by social and economic issues. Users’ activities and responsiveness to waterfront projects are affected by the development types and methods. This study is part of ongoing research aiming to evaluate the participatory approach methods in the waterfronts of Mediterranean cities. It examines three coastal cities that have developed differently based on sustainable development studies. This study is a top–down approach that investigates the applied phases and methods …

Clinical And Radiographic Evaluation Of Periodontal Infrabony Defects Treated With Chitosan In Periodontitis Patients, Nayer Aboelsaad, Roula Abiad

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Chitosan is a naturally derived polymer that has been investigated for its uses as a biomaterial for drug delivery and anti-inflammatory. Recently, chitosan applications in bone regeneration has gained distinct interest. The aim of this study was to. evaluate clinically and radiographically the healing of the periodontal infra-bony defects using chitosan gel in periodontitis patients .Material & methods: Twenty periodontitis patients with bilateral infrabony defects having stage II and Stage III periodontitis were selected according to the criteria of AAP (2017) classification system of periodontal diseases and conditions. Using split mouth design, 20 defects were treated using chitosan gel; while …

The Digital Fabrication Lab Contribution To The Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring Waste Materials And Fabrication Techniques, Marwan Halabi

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The SDGs, commonly known as Sustainable Development Goals, unveil the shortcomings and deficiencies of the building sector facing of the challenges of the planet. Unfortunately, the news is not positive since the objectives established by the United Nations General Assembly should be reached by 2030. From the 17 goals and 169 targets, a case study was developed in order to test its effectiveness against SDG 9, which deals with Infrastructure, Innovation and Industry. In this sense, technology should play a significant role in the mapping criteria against the objective and its targets. Therefore, an overview of the potential digital tools …

Knowledge Sharing And Innovation At The Lebanese Banking Industry, Sherine Al Ahmad, Nasser Fathi Easa, Nehale Mostapha

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Knowledge is considered the main critical resource for competitive advantage. By encouraging a knowledge‐sharing culture within service settings such as banks, the quality of service is enhanced and the opportunities for innovation is created. This research seeks to test the relationship between knowledge sharing (KS) and innovation. A quantitative and explanatory analysis was done by using Structural equations modeling (SEM) to investigate the effect of KS on process and product innovation. Research data were collected through a survey method. The sample result was determined through a probability stratified sampling technique of about 310 employees at 27 banks in Lebanon. The …

A Legal Perspective On Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr), Tala Zein, Sarah Zein

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Recent years have been marked by a remarkable decline in trust and confidence in the economy as well as in the business community, as a growing number of economic scandals are being reported by observers and whistleblowers. The need for better governance and higher ethical standards has become a focal issue for governments, regulators, supervisors and business actors themselves. In this context, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has come to play an increasingly important role in business and corporate regulation, paving the way for ethical business practices, as the concept of corporate social responsibility encompasses key components of economic growth, social …

Computational Modeling Of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Systems, Anuruddha Jayasuriya

Dissertations

Using recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) as a substitution in concrete materials is an excellent way to improve the sustainability of concrete production. However, due to a lack of globally accepted technical guidance, and high material variability, the usage of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) systems is not readily practiced within most structural engineering applications.

To date, the majority of the experimental findings in the literature indicate that RAC is a weaker composite material when compared to a natural aggregate concrete system in terms of mechanical properties such as compressive strength, elastic modulus, tensile strength, flexural strength, fracture energy, and toughness. However, …

Compound Flooding In Coastal Areas Emanating From Inland And Offshore Events, Hamed Behzad Koochaksaraii

Dissertations

The vulnerability of urban populations to natural hazards and climate change is a major theme in many reports on coastal cities with flooding ranking highly among the climate change concerns. Flooding could occur as a result of runoff for inland rainfall that accumulates at the mouth of the estuary to the sea or it could occur due to a storm surge emanating from the ocean. The techniques for modeling the flooding from these events are very different, as they were developed in different scientific fields: hydrology and hydraulic engineering for inland rainfall versus coastal oceanography and coastal engineering for offshore …

Stress-State And Injection-Rate Dependent Damage Processes During The Hydraulic Fracturing Of Granite, Gayani Sasendrika Gunarathna

Dissertations

Hydraulic fracturing is a well-stimulation technique that is employed in field applications, such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and shale oil/gas extraction. This research experimentally investigates the effect of the state of stress and injection rate on the hydraulic fracturing processes. In addition, a displacement discontinuity method (DDM) code, FROCK, is used to model the crack initiation and propagation in a granite specimen under hydraulic fracturing conditions. In order to conduct the experimental work, a test setup capable of applying a triaxial state of stress and water pressure inside pre-fabricated flaws cut in prismatic granite specimens is developed. Additionally, the …

Modulation Of Cerebellar Purkinje Cell Activity With Low Intensity Electric And Ultrasound Stimulation, Ahmet S. Asan

Dissertations

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques garner significant interest due to their potential to offer instantaneous and region-specific treatments to neurological disorders. The cerebellum is one of the target sites for NIBS methods due to its central role in motor and cognitive functions. Among several modulation techniques, transcranial electric stimulations (tEs), in particular, transcranial direct and alternating current stimulations (tDCs/tACs), and low intensity focused ultrasound stimulation (LIFUS) show encouraging outcomes in clinical applications. tDCs and tACs are favored due to their low cost and accessibility while LIFUS offers high spatial resolution and deeper penetration without affecting the surrounding structures. In order …

Subspace Portfolios: Design And Performance Comparison, Anqi Xiong

Dissertations

Data processing and engineering techniques enable people to observe and better understand the natural and human-made systems and processes that generate huge amounts of various data types. Data engineers collect data created in almost all fields and formats, such as images, audio, and text streams, biological and financial signals, sensing and many others. They develop and implement state-of-the art machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms using big data to infer valuable information with social and economic value. Furthermore, ML/AI methodologies lead to automate many decision making processes with real-time applications serving people and businesses. As an example, mathematical …

Efficient Hardware Implementations Of Bio-Inspired Networks, Anakha Vasanthakumaribabu

Dissertations

The human brain, with its massive computational capability and power efficiency in small form factor, continues to inspire the ultimate goal of building machines that can perform tasks without being explicitly programmed. In an effort to mimic the natural information processing paradigms observed in the brain, several neural network generations have been proposed over the years. Among the neural networks inspired by biology, second-generation Artificial or Deep Neural Networks (ANNs/DNNs) use memoryless neuron models and have shown unprecedented success surpassing humans in a wide variety of tasks. Unlike ANNs, third-generation Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) closely mimic biological neurons by operating …

Mechanical Characterization Of Animal Derived Starting Materials For Tissue Engineering, Bin Zhang

Dissertations

Animal derived starting materials are well established in the production of Tissue Engineered Medical Devices. Porcine specifically can be found in products ranging in application from hernia repair to breast reconstruction. Although this material has been largely accepted in the Tissue Engineering industry, little is known of its material properties and mechanical characteristics. A review of the scientific literature describes limited mechanical measures only on uncontrolled research grade material. The objective of this work is to mechanically characterize porcine starting material used in the medical device industry. Porcine skin is provided by Midwest Research Swine, LLC (MRS) an established supplier …