Engineering Commons^™

The Inaugural Readership And Authorship Report Of The Journal Of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-Peer), Senay Purzer, Emily Jones

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) approaches a decade of publications since its launch in 2011. This inaugural report presents metrics and statistics on J-PEER's readership and authorship, looking specifically at data from 2019, along with reflections from the founding and immediate-past editors.

A Perceptual Evaluation Of Short-Time Fourier Transform Window Duration And Divergence Cost Function On Audio Source Separation Using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization, Ryan J. Miller

Student Theses

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is an established method of performing audio source separation. Previous studies used NMF with supplementary systems to improve performance, but little has been done to investigate perceptual effects of NMF parameters. The present study aimed to evaluate two NMF parameters for speech enhancement: the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) window duration and divergence cost function. Two experiments were conducted: the first investigated the effect of STFT window duration on target speech intelligibility in a sentence keyword identification task. The second experiment had participants rate residual noise levels present in target speech using three different cost functions: the …

Using Case-Level Context To Classify Cancer Pathology Reports, Shang Gao, Mohammed Alawad, Noah Schaefferkoetter, Lynne Penberthy, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Eric B. Durbin, Linda Coyle, Arvind Ramanathan, Georgia Tourassi

Kentucky Cancer Registry Faculty Publications

Individual electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical reports are often part of a larger sequence-for example, a single patient may generate multiple reports over the trajectory of a disease. In applications such as cancer pathology reports, it is necessary not only to extract information from individual reports, but also to capture aggregate information regarding the entire cancer case based off case-level context from all reports in the sequence. In this paper, we introduce a simple modular add-on for capturing case-level context that is designed to be compatible with most existing deep learning architectures for text classification on individual reports. We …

Stochastic Simulation Of Cellular Metabolism, Emalie J. Clement, Thomas T. Schulze, Ghada A. Soliman, Beata Joanna Wysocki, Paul H. Davis, Tadeusz A. Wysocki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Increased technological methods have enabled the investigation of biology at nanoscale levels. Such systems require the use of computational methods to comprehend the complex interactions that occur. The dynamics of metabolic systems have been traditionally described utilizing differential equations without fully capturing the heterogeneity of biological systems. Stochastic modeling approaches have recently emerged with the capacity to incorporate the statistical properties of such systems. However, the processing of stochastic algorithms is a computationally intensive task with intrinsic limitations. Alternatively, the queueing theory approach, historically used in the evaluation of telecommunication networks, can significantly reduce the computational power required to generate …

Wind Tunnel Wake Generator, Carl Pickl, James L. Rutledge, Marc D. Polanka, Brian Crabtree, Christopher Harkless

AFIT Patents

A wake generator for placement in a wind tunnel between a wind source and a test object includes a first frame member having a first track formed thereon, where the first track has a shape including a first side that is substantially rounded and a second side that is substantially flat. The wake generator may include a mounting plate disposed within a perimeter of the first track, where the mounting plate is rotatable relative to the first frame member about a first axis. The wake generator may also include a plurality of bars slidably engaged to the mounting plate and …

Evaluation Of Undrained Shear Strength Of Soil, Ultimate Pile Capacity And Pile Set-Up Parameter From Cone Penetration Test (Cpt) Using Artificial Neural Network (Ann), Md Ariful Hassan Mojumder

LSU Master's Theses

Over the years, numerous design methods were developed to evaluate the undrained shear strength, S_u, ultimate pile capacity and pile set-up parameter, A. In recent decades, the emphasis was given to the in-situ cone and piezocone penetration tests (CPT, PCPT) to estimate these parameters since CPT/PCPT has been proven to be fast, reliable and cost-effective soil investigation method. However, because of the paucity of a vivid comprehension of the physical problem, some of the developed methods incorporate correlation assumptions which might compromise the consistent accuracy. In this study, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was exerted using CPT data …

Optimized Xanthene-Based Probes For Pancreatic Cancer Imaging, Ian Ruramai Munhenzva

Dissertations and Theses

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest human malignancies with an extremely poor 5-year survival rate of below 5%. Surgical resection is the most effective treatment of choice because chemotherapy and radiation therapy do not improve life expectancy. Residual tumor after PDAC surgery is common due to a lack of PDAC targeted intraoperative contrast agents to confirm clear margins.

Fluorescence imaging has the potential to improve surgery outcome and PDAC patients' survival rate via the use of highly PDAC-specific molecular probes to facilitate tumor identification. This thesis describes the application of a focused library of benzoxanthene fluorophores for …

Security Camera Using Raspberry Pi, Tejendra Khatri

Student Academic Conference

No abstract provided.

Predictive Analysis Of Ethanol Prices With Machine Learning, Benjamin Schilling

Student Academic Conference

Overview of a predictive analysis regression developed using machine learning alongside ETL process techniques.

Estimating The Tempo Of Audio Files, Parker Ostertag

Student Academic Conference

On the market today, there exists a multitude of software that allows for the detection and prediction of beats per minute (BPM) contained in audio files. There are both free and monetized versions of these programs, but there is one thing that they all have in common: they are inaccurate. This is simply because the science behind beat detection is unfinished, and may never be. In this project, I decided to use a method of audio peak detection to help me detect the tempo that may exist in any audio file. I started by researching existing programs and the science …

Engineering Ionomer Materials For Addressing Ohmic Resistances In Electrochemical Desalination And Waste Heat Recovery, Varada Menon Palakkal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Water scarcity and energy availability present important challenges that need to be addressed in the coming centuries. In the front of water technologies, desalting brackish water is of extreme importance for thermal electric power plants, chemical manufacturing plants, and other industrial operations that treat and reuse their water utilities. Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is an energy efficient desalination technique that has drawn attention from commercial entities. Most material research studies on MCDI focus on enhancing electrode performance while little emphasis is given to rationale design of ion-exchange membranes (IEMs). In this work, the ionic conductivity, permselectivity, and thickness for three …

Alternative Methods, Hunter Stabler

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

In the realm of precognitive artmaking, the artist’s role is that of an antenna. One must be receptive to the subtle, invisible flow of creative novelty in order to participate in the involuntary channeling of new ideas, new processes, and alternative methods of creative production. Carving out new territory within the realm of static art is a primary objective for my artistic process. By utilizing digital fabrication tools, paired with my affinity for intricate craft and optical metagrobolization, I have created a body of work that invents alternative processes and unique aesthetic languages.

Digital imaging, digital modeling and digital …

Electrospun Silk-Boron Nitride Nanofibers With Tunable Structure And Properties., Ye Xue, Xiao Hu

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

In this study, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets and Bombyx mori silk fibroin (SF) proteins were combined and electrospun into BNSF nanofibers with different ratios. It was found that the surface morphology and crosslinking density of the nanofibers can be tuned through the mixing ratios. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study showed that pure SF electrospun fibers were dominated by random coils and they gradually became α-helical structures with increasing h-BN nanosheet content, which indicates that the structure of the nanofiber material is tunable. Thermal stability of electrospun BNSF nanofibers were largely improved by the good thermal stability of BN, and …

Analysis And Design Of A Soft Switching Z-Source Boost Dc-Dc Converter, Mahdi Rezvanyvardom, Amin Mirzaei

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

This paper proposes a high step-up fully soft switched Z-source Boost DC-DC converter, which uses two resonant paths to create soft switching conditions for switches and diodes and also increases the voltage gain. The proposed converter only has one switch, so it has a simple structure. Furthermore, its control circuit remains pulse width modulation. Since soft switching conditions are provided for all switching elements, the converter efficiency is very high. This converter also has all advantages of Z-source converters. The converter is analyzed and simulated in PSPICE software. The results confirm the aforementioned advantages and features of the proposed converter

A Microfluidic Platform For High-Throughput Screening Of Aquaporin Performance, Adriana Del Pino Herrera, Jordan Hoydick, Rachel Rauh, Elyssa El-Hajj, Madison Burchfield

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Aquaporins are a family of small integral membrane proteins that transport water across cell membranes in response to osmotic gradients. They facilitate fluid secretion and absorption across epithelial surfaces in kidney tubules, exocrine glands, and gastrointestinal tract. Here, we describe a novel microfluidic method to evaluate and screen for aquaporin-based transmembrane permeability in mammalian cells. A microfluidic device was designed and fabricated for the encapsulation of single mammalian and yeast cells in micron-sized droplets. For this purpose, Chinese Hamster Ovarian (CHO) cells were used. CHO cells express AQP1 (aquaporin-1) homologous to human kidney aquaporins. The cells were cultivated and exposed …

Implementation Of A Low Cost, Solar Charged Rf Modem For Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks, Mohammad Abdellatif, Salma M. Maher, Ghazal M. Al-Sayyad, Sameh O. Abdellatif

Electrical Engineering

Underwater communication (UWC) has become an attractive research field over the past few decades. This is mainly due to the increase in underwater applications such as exploration, monitoring, and warning systems. Traditional communications techniques face many obstacles when used underwater. Optical communications require line of sight which is not always maintained underwater due to turbulence. Acoustic communication does not suffer from that, however, it can only operate with very low rates. While radio frequency (RF) communication can only operate over short distances due to the attenuation from the water, it can deliver relatively high data rates and does not require …

Kinetic Insights Into The Lignocellulosic Biomass-Based Levulinic Acid Production By A Mechanistic Model, Emília Savioli Lopes, Elmer Ccopa Rivera, Julio César De Jesus Gariboti, Luis Henrique Zimmermann Feistel, João Vitor Dutra, Rubens Maciel Filho, Laura Plazas Tovar

Faculty Publications

© 2020, Springer Nature B.V. Abstract: In this work, a mechanistic model was developed to simulate the kinetics of the production of levulinic acid (LA) from sugarcane bagasse (SCB), rice husk (RH) and soybean straw (SS). The production of LA from those agro-industrial wastes followed the methodology of biorefining in three stages. Experimental data from the third stage (catalytic depolymerization of cellulose) obtained under a wide range of operating conditions were used to estimate the parameters of the model. An optimization procedure based on a genetic algorithm was used to determine the optimal parameter values. The prediction of the concentrations …

Local Orbital-Angular-Momentum Dependent Surface States With Topological Protection, Menglin L.N. Chen, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang, Zhihao Lan, Wei E.I. Sha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Chiral surface states along the zigzag edge of a valley photonic crystal in the honeycomb lattice are demonstrated. By decomposing the local fields into orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes, we find that the chiral surface states present OAM-dependent unidirectional propagation characteristics. Particularly, the propagation directivities of the surface states are quantified by the local OAM decomposition and are found to depend on the chirality's of both the source and surface states. These findings allow for the engineering control of the unidirectional propagation of electromagnetic energy without requiring an ancillary cladding layer. Furthermore, we examine the propagation of the chiral surface …

Nonlinear Dynamic Tests Of A Reinforced Concrete Frame Building At Different Damage Levels, Seyedsina Yousefianmoghadam, Mingming Song, Mohammad E. Mohammadi, Brittany Packard, Andreas Stavridis, Babak Moaveni, Richard L. Wood

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the dynamic tests of a two-story infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame building using an eccentric-mass shaker. The building, located in El Centro, CA, was substantially damaged prior to the tests due to the seismic activity in the area. During the testing sequence, five infill walls were removed to introduce additional damage states and to investigate the changes in the dynamic properties and the nonlinear response of the building to the induced excitations. The accelerations and displacements of the structure under the forced and ambient vibrations were recorded through an array of sensors, while lidar scans were obtained …

A Statistical Analysis Of The Unm Facets Design Identity & Beliefs Survey Data, Clarissa A. Sorensen-Unruh

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

The NSF-funded FACETS (Formation of Accomplished Chemical Engineers for Transforming Society, NSF Award 1623105) grant aims to transform the undergraduate engineering experience in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico to address attrition within engineering majors, especially among underserved populations (Brainard & Carlin, 1998). The UNM FACETS Design Identity & Beliefs survey, an assessment tool used as part of the research of the grant, generated the dataset used in this study. I performed several different statistical analyses on the dataset, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis. The …

Intersection Illumination – Collision Correlation: How Does Street Lighting Affect Roadway Safety?, Josh R. Pinchek

Aurora

Understanding the relationship between roadway intersection safety and street lighting is essential to developing effective intersection lighting standards. This study uses data from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Accident Databases (1 million+ accidents over 10 years) to explore the relationship between street lamps and accident occurrence via comparative statistics. Accident occurrence ratios, calculated based upon seasonally categorized, time-matched accident data are compared and reported with and without artificial lighting as a variable.

The results of the study indicate that artificial lighting is an important factor on accident rate occurrence via a correlation between lighting and roadway safety, guiding the …

In Vitro Characterization Of Shape Memory Polymer Foam Hemostats, Nakira Hollinae Christmas

Theses - ALL

Shape memory polymer foam hemostats are a promising option for future hemorrhage control in battlefield wounds. To enable their use as hemostatic devices they must be optimized in terms of formulation and architecture and characterized in terms of safety and efficacy. As a device advances through the stages of development, pre-clinical testing is required in animals. In order to help mitigate the excess use of animals as well as decrease the costs of pre-clinical research, relevant in vitro models need to be created and used for device optimization. In the work conducted here, two in vitro models were created; a …

Regional Airlines, Benjamin Jones Jr.

Student Works

The airline industry plays a major role in the United States. Many passengers use air transportation as a major mode of traveling for business and personal. As the demand for traveling increased, pilot shortage has increased as well. A pilot shortage will devastate the economy and have a lasting effect that will be felt worldwide. However, sources predict that the United States will experience a sizable pilot shortage over the next few years. This paper will identify the reasons for the pilot shortage and discuss the devastating effects that the shortage has on the regional airline industry. In addition, this …

Molecular Physiology Of Blood-Brain Barrier Tight Junctions, Flaviyan Jerome Irudayanathan

Dissertations - ALL

The molecular interface of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective physiological barrier. The BBB shields the central nervous system (CNS) for harmful agents while also preventing lifesaving drugs from entering the CNS. With the prevalence of neurogenerative disease on the rise, there is a growing interest to design therapeutic interventions that can surpass the BBB. Such efforts necessitate a thorough understanding of the BBB, requiring one to decipher: why the BBB is so selective? what governing molecular rules govern selectivity across the BBB? and how does it impact physiology. As a contribution towards this understanding the following dissertation …

Synthesis Technique Of Thickness-Customizable Multilayered Frequency Selective Surface For Plasma-Based Electromagnetic Structures, Komlan Payne

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation provides a synthesis technique for the design of thickness-customizable high-order (N ≥ 2) bandpass frequency selective surface (FSS) and its application in realizing versatile multi-layered FSS and absorbers. Admittance inverters layers are used to synthesize the transfer response of the filter given desired characteristics such as filter type, center frequency, and bandwidth. These inverter layers are essentially electromagnetic coupling interlayers that can be adjusted to customize the thickness of multilayered FSS without degrading the desired filter performance. A generalized equivalent circuit model is used to provide physical insights of the proposed design. This synthesis technique is adopted to …

A Method Of Topology Optimization For Curvature Continuous Designs, Jack Steven Rossetti

Dissertations - ALL

Recently, there have been many developments made in the field of topology optimization. Specifically, the structural dynamics community has been the leader of the engineering disciplines in using these methods to improve the designs of various structures, ranging from bridges to motor vehicle frames, as well as aerospace structures like the ribs and spars of an airplane. The representation of these designs, however, are usually stair-stepped or faceted throughout the optimization process and require post-process smoothing in the final design stages. Designs with these low-order representations are insufficient for use in higher-order computational fluid dynamics methods, which are becoming more …

Uncertainty Modeling Of Wind Power Generation For Power System Planning And Stability Study, Wolf Peter Jean Philippe

Dissertations - ALL

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, higher penetration levels of renewable energy resources are added to existing power grids. Among them, wind energy resources are becoming a major source of electricity generation. However, wind energy production has a critical downside: intermittency. The intermittent nature of wind energy in combination with the load demand uncertainties, make it difficult to maintain power system stability and reliability. In addition, the uncertainty and variability of wind power generation (WPG) forces power utilities to retain higher levels of spinning reserves (SRs) to maintain power balance in the system. While necessary to ensure grid reliability, the utilization …

How Heatwaves Are Changing Urban Livability Across The United States: A Case Study In Ten Communities, Javad Shafiei Shiva

Dissertations - ALL

Heatwaves are an important type of extreme climate event and directly result in more than 130 deaths and thousands of morbidities per year across the United States. Heat waves increase demands on water and energy, particularly in urban areas, because people use more water for drinking, showering, watering, recreational purposes, and evaporative cooling units. Global temperature is increasing due to natural cycles and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans at an alarming rate and this increase is exacerbated in urban areas due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Accordingly, more frequent and severe heat waves in the future years …

Understanding Double Network Theory And Applying It To Synthesis And Biological Applications, Alexander Vincent Struck Jannini

Theses - ALL

The double network synthesis technique has gained popularity in the past few years as a method to create hydrogels with high strength and toughness, making them ideal for a plethora of applications, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biosensors. The technique revolves around creating a ductile, weak network in the same space as a brittle, strong network. With the development of the synthesis technique, researchers have investigated both why these materials have the reported properties and finding new ways to synthesize them or use them in different applications. In this work, I aim to add on both aspects of …

A New High-Throughput Assay For Quantification Of Antibiotic Penetration In Gram-Negative Bacterial Cells, Zhaowei Jiang

Theses - ALL

Antibiotic resistance has been on the rise and poses major threats to public health. Bacteria develop multidrug resistance through various mechanisms such as mutated or modified antibiotic target site, modification of antibiotic molecules, reduction of antibiotic penetration through bacterial cell membranes and extrusion of drug molecules by efflux pumps. Increasing evidence indicates that antibiotic permeability is a major barrier hindering microbial control. However, a robust and rapid screening method to quantitatively determine the penetration of candidate agents through bacterial membranes is still missing. To address this challenge, we recently developed a high throughput method for quantifying membrane penetration of Gram-negative …