Engineering Commons^™

Cascaded Fabry-Pérot Interferometers With Vernier Effect For Gas Pressure Measurement, Hongfeng Lin, Yanyan Xu, Farhan Mumtaz, Yutang Dai, Ai Zhou

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A sensitivity enhanced gas pressure sensor with Vernier effect is proposed in this paper. The sensor is a cascade configuration which includes two Fabry-Pérot interferometers (FPIs) with different free spectrum range (FSR). Each Fabry-Pérot interferometer is fabricated by inserting a piece of hollow core fiber (HCF) in between two sections of single mode fiber (SMF). Femtosecond laser is applied for drilling an opening on the HCF of sensing FPI to make the air hole interact with outside environment, while the air hole of the reference FPI is kept closed. Gas pressure response is measured by monitoring the wavelength shift of …

Data-Driven Surgical Duration Prediction Model For Surgery Scheduling: A Case-Study For A Practice-Feasible Model In A Public Hospital, Kar Way Tan, Francis Ngoc Hoang Long Nguyen, Boon Yew Ang, Jerald Gan, Sean Shao Wei Lam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Hospitals have been trying to improve the utilization of operating rooms as it affects patient satisfaction, surgery throughput, revenues and costs. Surgical prediction model which uses post-surgery data often requires high-dimensional data and contains key predictors such as surgical team factors which may not be available during the surgical listing process. Our study considers a two-step data-mining model which provides a practical, feasible and parsimonious surgical duration prediction. Our model first leverages on domain knowledge to provide estimate of the first surgeon rank (a key predicting attribute) which is unavailable during the listing process, then uses this predicted attribute and …

Joint Manufacturing And Onsite Microgrid System Control Using Markov Decision Process And Neural Network Integrated Reinforcement Learning, Wenqing Hu, Zeyi Sun, Y. Zhang, Y. Li

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Onsite microgrid generation systems with renewable sources are considered a promising complementary energy supply system for manufacturing plant, especially when outage occurs during which the energy supplied from the grid is not available. Compared to the widely recognized benefits in terms of the resilience improvement when it is used as a backup energy system, the operation along with the electricity grid to support the manufacturing operations in non-emergent mode has been less investigated. In this paper, we propose a joint dynamic decision-making model for the optimal control for both manufacturing system and onsite generation system. Markov Decision Process (MDP) is …

Novel Coupling Smart Water-Co₂ Flooding For Sandstone Reservoirs, Hasan N. Al-Saedi, Ralph E. Flori

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

CO₂ flooding is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective EOR technique that can be used to unlock residual oil from oil reservoirs. Smart water is any water that is engineered by manipulating the ionic composition, regardless of the resulting salinity of the water. One CO2 flooding mechanism is wettability alteration, which meets with the main smart water flooding function. Injecting CO₂ alone increases the likelihood of an early breakthrough and gravity override problems, which have already been solved using water-alternating-gas (WAG) using regular water. WAG is an emerging enhanced oil recovery process designed to enhance sweep efficiency during gas …

Bioactive Glass Fiber Fabrication Via A Combination Of Sol-Gel Process With Electro-Spinning Technique, Malvika Nagrath, Adel Alhalawani, Alireza Rahimnejad Yazdi, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Action Recognition In Manufacturing Assembly Using Multimodal Sensor Fusion, Md. Al-Amin, Wenjin Tao, David Doell, Ravon Lingard, Zhaozheng Yin, Ming-Chuan Leu, Ruwen Qin

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Production innovations are occurring faster than ever. Manufacturing workers thus need to frequently learn new methods and skills. In fast changing, largely uncertain production systems, manufacturers with the ability to comprehend workers' behavior and assess their operation performance in near real-time will achieve better performance than peers. Action recognition can serve this purpose. Despite that human action recognition has been an active field of study in machine learning, limited work has been done for recognizing worker actions in performing manufacturing tasks that involve complex, intricate operations. Using data captured by one sensor or a single type of sensor to recognize …

Developing High Performance Magnesium Phosphate Cement Composite Bipolar Plates For Fuel Cells, Wenbin Hao, Hongyan Ma, Guoxing Sun, Zongjin Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this work, we report a comprehensive study on developing high performance magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) composite bipolar plates for fuel cells. The MPC composite bipolar plates composed of MPC with partial replacement of fly ash as the binding matrix phase and multiple carbon-based materials (including graphite, carbon fiber and multi-walled carbon nanotubes) as the conductive phase. A simple hot-press process was applied to produce the MPC composite. After the optimization on the formula and the structure of the MPC composite and the processing parameters, all the US DOE 2015 technical targets, including electrical conductivity, flexural strength, corrosion resistance were …

Remote Sensing Of Explosives-Induced Stress In Plants: Hyperspectral Imaging Analysis For Remote Detection Of Unexploded Threats, Paul V. Manley, Vasit Sagan, Felix B. Fritschi, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Explosives contaminate millions of hectares from various sources (partial detonations, improper storage, and release from production and transport) that can be life-threatening, e.g., landmines and unexploded ordnance. Exposure to and uptake of explosives can also negatively impact plant health, and these factors can be can be remotely sensed. Stress induction was remotely sensed via a whole-plant hyperspectral imaging system as two genotypes of Zea mays, a drought-susceptible hybrid and a drought-tolerant hybrid, and a forage Sorghum bicolor were grown in a greenhouse with one control group, one group maintained at 60% soil field capacity, and a third exposed to …

Modeling Climate Driven Urban Migration In The United States, Julia Beckwith

REU Final Reports

Though research on climate driven migration has become more prevalent, the majority of recent studies model migration patterns in the Global South. While these inquiries are rightfully focused on populations that will be disproportionately affected by climate change, countries in the Global North are not impervious to these effects. As global population distributions shift, it will be necessary to know which urban areas in the United States might be best equipped to handle influxes of people. Drawing on existing climate-migration frameworks, the agent-based model detailed in this paper utilizes available demographic and climate data to simulate climate-driven migration between key …

Implementation And Analysis Of The Iso/Iec/Ieee P21451-1 Draft Standard For A Smart Transducer Interface Common Network Services And Its Applications In The Internet Of Things, Russell Henry Albert Trafford

Theses and Dissertations

The Internet of Things (IoT) has rapidly become the paradigm for the creation and improvement of new and old Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), but how much longer can this development of IoT devices, networks, and services be sustained? The past decade has seen incredible growth in internet connected devices, with current estimates placing the number of such devices at about 20 billion in 2017, not including personal computers, smart phones, and tablets. This has created a massive market for these devices, with each company making their own applications, protocols, and services. Since these markets are competitive, there originally was no …

Process/Equipment Design Implications For Control System Cybersecurity, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

An emerging challenge for process safety is process control system cybersecurity. An attacker could gain control of the process actuators through the control system or communication policies within control loops and potentially drive the process state to unsafe conditions. Cybersecurity has traditionally been handled as an information technology (IT) problem in the process industries. In the literature for cybersecurity specifically of control systems, there has been work aimed at developing control designs that seek to fight cyberattacks by either giving the system appropriate response mechanisms once attacks are detected or seeking to make the attacks difficult to perform. In this …

Experimental Investigation Of Whitmore Section And Block Shear Failures In Steel Gusset Plates Using Digital Image Correlation, Prajwal Pokhrel

Civil Engineering Theses

Gusset plates are necessary for transferring loads from one structural member to another. During load transfer gussets can undergo shear, net section rupture and gross section yielding. Gusset design is a complex process and there is still a lack of knowledge regarding the stress and strain distribution in gusset plates. Current design practices which use Whitmore method, may not be sufficient to accurately predict the capacity of a gusset plate. An experimental study was conducted at The University of Texas at Tyler to understand the failure mechanism of gusset plates under uniaxial tensile loading. Variables considered for the experiment are …

Analysis And Tests For A Hybrid Model Created From Classical Taguchi And Goal Post Manufacturing Loss Models, Prajwal Bhandari

Electrical Engineering Theses

We present an analysis of the previously proposed “modified quadratic” loss function. This loss model integrates elements from both Classical Taguchi and Goal Post manufacturing loss models. Specifically, the analyzed hybrid model follows the Taguchi loss quadratic dependence between the upper and lower manufacturing specification limits. On the other hand, outside of these limits, the loss rule is in agreement with the Goal Post Model. Supported by the results of analysis contained herein the Taguchi-Hybrid model does not overestimate the loss as is inherent to the classical Taguchi model. Also, the proposed Taguchi Hybrid model does not ignore deviations from …

Detection And Remodeling Of Toxic Amyloid Aggregates By Novel Conjugated Polyelectrolytes, Adeline Marianne Fanni

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

The abnormal misfolding and aggregation of intrinsically disordered proteins into ordered fibrillar amyloid aggregates is recognized as a common pathological event in neurodegenerative disorders (ND) such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The key role of fibrillar and pre-fibrillar aggregates in ND makes them ideal biomarkers to better understand disease progression but also for early disease detection and therapeutic intervention. The work described herein was conducted to gain a better understanding of amyloid interaction to lipid membrane and its role in peptide toxicity. This research was also focused on evaluating the fluorescent probe, oligomeric p-phenylene ethynylene (OPE), as an amyloid …

Function, Meaning, And Message Of The Natural Environtment In The Story Of Keong Mas, Adinda Bunga Utami, Nanny Sri Lestari

International Review of Humanities Studies

This research discusses the meaning and function of the natural environment in one folk tale that is well known in the Javanese community. This folktale is known in all circles of society, despite having social differences. An interesting problem in this folklore is the placement of functions and environmental meanings as the main elements of stories or tales. The focus of this research is to raise the function and meaning of the natural environment contained in one story of Keong Mas. This study aims to explain carefully the function and meaning of the natural environment which is the background of …

Stability Analysis On Nonequilibrium Supersonic Boundary Layer Flow With Velocity-Slip Boundary Conditions, Xin He, Chunpei Cai

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper presents our recent work on investigating velocity slip boundary conditions’ effects on supersonic flat plate boundary layer flow stability. The velocity-slip boundary conditions are adopted and the flow properties are obtained by solving boundary layer equations. Stability analysis of two such boundary layer flows is performed by using the Linear stability theory. A global method is first utilized to obtain approximate discrete mode values. A local method is then utilized to refine these mode values. All the modes in these two scenarios have been tracked upstream-wisely towards the leading edge and also downstream-wisely. The mode values for the …

Development Of A Hybrid Residential Hvac System: An Experimental Study Of A Variable Refrigerant Flow System With Ducted And Ductless Elements, Andrew C. Hernandez Iii

Mechanical Engineering Theses

The introduction of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) expands the range of development potential for HVAC systems. The hybridization of traditional HVAC ducted systems and ductless VRF integrates both the advantages and disadvantages of each system type. Existing research does not focus on hybridization but on individual component evaluation that covers quantitatively expansive evaporator or multiple compressor configurations. The Trane Residential Heating and Cooling Research Lab at the University of Texas at Tyler was used as the research facility to experiment and validate a hybrid ducted-ductless HVAC system where a ducted attic air handler unit and three ductless evaporator units were …

Modified Substrate Specificity Of A Methyltransferase Domain By Protein Insertion Into An Adenylation Domain Of The Bassianolide Synthetase, Fuchao Xu, Russell Butler, Kyle M. May, Megi Rexhepaj, Dayu Yu, Jiachen Zi, Yi Chen, Yonghong Liang, Jia Zeng, Joan Hevel, Jixun Zhan

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Presentations

Background: Creating designer molecules using a combination of select domains from polyketide synthases and/or nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) continues to be a synthetic goal. However, an incomplete understanding of how protein-protein interactions and dynamics affect each of the domain functions stands as a major obstacle in the field. Of particular interest is understanding the basis for a class of methyltransferase domains (MT) that are found embedded within the adenylation domain (A) of fungal NRPS systems instead of in an end-to-end architecture.

Results: The MT domain from bassianolide synthetase (BSLS) was removed and the truncated enzyme BSLS-ΔMT was recombinantly expressed. The …

A Machine Learning Based Framework For Load Forecasting And Optimal Operation Of Power Systems With Distributed Generation, Tairen Chen

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The fast development and wide utilization of distributed generations (DGs), such as Photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, provide environmentally friendly renewable energy. However, inappropriate operation, sizing, and placement of DGs could increase the power losses and reduce the stability of the power network. Load forecasting is critical to the electrical utilities to schedule power generation and distribution. In this dissertation, a framework is proposed for load forecasting and optimal operation of power system with DGs in the distribution feeder-level.

In the first part, a nonparametric method, the Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART), is introduced for day-ahead peak load forecasting. The …

Current And Future Deposition Of Nitrogen And Sulfur In Louisiana, Jessica Nguyen

LSU Master's Theses

Nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) are essential nutrients, however excess quantities can stress ecosystems. Atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition lead to changes in water and soil chemistry, consequently resulting in ensuing detriment to multiple ecosystems such as acidification of water bodies. This affects a multitude of plants and animals such as trees, insects, and fish. Louisiana has copious natural water resources. Therefore, it is essential to safeguard its valuable resources from excess atmospheric N and S deposition. However, knowledge of N and S deposition and its unfavorable effects in the Southeast U.S., particularly Louisiana, is limited.

In this research, a …

Hybrid Fusion Protein For Inhibition Of Multiple Proteases For Chronic Wound Healing, Graham L. Strauss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many diseases display a multitude of relevant factors that contribute to the persistence of the disease and difficulty treating it. The multifactorial characteristics of some diseases lead to the requirement of combination of treatments in order to restore health. The latter may necessitate the mixing of treatments, medications, and therapeutics to first halt the disease, then assist the human body in returning itself to a state of normality. For example, chronic wounds exhibit this multifactor characteristic in which there exist many factors that lead to the body’s inability to properly heal in a timely manner. This presents a further threat …

Distributed Energy Storage System, Jonghyun Park, Mohammed Abdulkhabeer Al-Yasiri

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An energy storage system reaction cell configured for distribution throughout a transport system. The length of the reaction cell is substantially greater than its width and is looped throughout the transport system in a serpentine configuration. A membrane within the reaction cell has a length substantially equal to the length of the reaction cell such that surface area of the membrane is maximized relative to volume of the reaction cell to increase electrical power provided to an electrical load of the transport system.

Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion By Band-Edge Spectral Filtering, Z. Omair, G. Scranton, L. M. Pazos-Outón, T. P. Xiao, M. A. Steiner, Vidya Ganapati, P. F. Peterson, J. Holzrichter, H. Atwater, E. Yablonovitch

Engineering Faculty Works

Thermophotovoltaic power conversion utilizes thermal radiation from a local heat source to generate electricity in a photovoltaic cell. It was shown in recent years that the addition of a highly reflective rear mirror to a solar cell maximizes the extraction of luminescence. This, in turn, boosts the voltage, enabling the creation of record-breaking solar efficiency. Now we report that the rear mirror can be used to create thermophotovoltaic systems with unprecedented high thermophotovoltaic efficiency. This mirror reflects low-energy infrared photons back into the heat source, recovering their energy. Therefore, the rear mirror serves a dual function; boosting the voltage and …

Human-Cognition-In-The-Loop: A Framework To Include Decision Process In Closed Loop Control, Mehdi Firouznia

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

This thesis proposes a framework to include human cognitive process in making decision into control loop. Our approach in solving this problem is to add a complementary control which includes a model of human decision to the controller, capable of predicting human command accuracy in the near future. The outcome of decision unit can either be presented to the operator as a directive or may adjust the issued command toward better results. In order to construct human decision model, we combined tree approaches of bio-physical connectionist, mathematical abstraction and behavioral cognitive models in the adaptive gain theory framework. We first …

Braze For Ceramic And Ceramic Matrix Composite Components, Sean E. Landwehr, Scott Nelson, Jeremy Lee Watts, Greg Hilmas, William Fahrenholtz, Derek Scott King

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In some examples, a technique may include positioning a first part comprising a ceramic or ceramic matrix composite and a second part comprising a ceramic or a CMC adjacent to each other to define a joint region at the interface of the first part and the second part. In some examples, the joint region may be heated using at least one of a laser or a plasma arc source to heat the joint region to an elevated temperature. The first and second parts may be pressed together and cooled to join the first and second parts at the joint region. …

Study On The Thermal Distortion, Hardness, And Microstructure Of St 37 Steel Plate Joined Using Fcaw, Maijuansyah Maijuansyah, Yanuar Rohmat Aji Pradana, Gaguk Jatisukamto, Solichin Solichin

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

This study sets out to investigate the distortion angle, microstructure, and hardness of St 37 steel plate weld joint produced by FCAW using the welding current of 80, 110, and 140 A. By using flat position, CO2 and E71T-1 wire were utilized as a shielding gas and electrode filler, respectively. The distortion angle measurement was done on 3 different locations of the welded sample perpendicular to weld direction by using bevel protractor. The micro Vickers tests were then applied gradually at the crosssectional surface with a distance of 0, 5, 10 and 15 mm from weld centerline using the load …

Preparation Of Chitosan-Polyethylene Oxide-Colocasia Esculenta Flour Nanofibers Using Electrospinning Method, Riesca Ayu Kusuma Wardhani, Lia Asri, Muhamad Nasir, Bambang Sunendar Purwasasmita

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Nanofibers have been prepared from the mixture of chitosan, polyethylene oxide (PEO) and Colocasia esculenta flour (CE flour) by using the electrospinning method. Two different nanofibers were formulated, containing chitosan-PEO and chitosan-PEO-CE flour. The higher concentration of PEO (3%chitosan-6%PEO) (w/v) resulted in more uniform chitosan-PEO electrospun nanofibers without beads. Chitosan-PEO-CE flour was prepared by addition of colloidal CE flour into the solution containing 3%chitosan-6%PEO with variation of the CE flour concentration of 5, 15 and 25% (w/v). Scanning Electron Microscopy demonstrated that the average diameter of chitosan-PEO nanofibers was 128±41 nm, whereas the diameter of chitosan-PEO-CE flour nanofibers was 159±45 …

The Effect Of Chemical Pretreatment Process On Mechanical Properties And Porosity Of Bacterial Cellulose Film, Tito Arif Sutrisno, Heru Suryanto, Retno Wulandari, M. Muhajir, Shikh Mohd Shahrul Nizan Shikh Zahari

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural polymer which have superior properties, like high porosity, high purity, and high permeability. The study objective is to determine the influence of chemical pretreatment on tensile strength and the porosity of BC. The method was to make BC films from pineapple peel extract through fermentation process for 14 days. The pretreatment was conducted by immersion of BC in BmimCl, H2O2, and NaOH solution with a concentration of 2.5%; 5%; and 7.5 %, heated at 80 °C then dried in the oven, and the samples were then tested by a tensile test using ASTM-D636-V standard, …

Comparison Study Of Mechanical Properties Of Al-Si Alloy With And Without Nanoreinforce Iron Oxide (Fe2o3), Cepi Yazirin, Poppy Puspitasari, Muhamad Fatikul Arif

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Nanoreinforce materials such as ZnO, eggshell, Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2 have been shown to improve the mechanical properties of Al-Si alloy. Nanomaterial Fe2O3 has many applications as catalysts reaction in electronic devices, for example, semiconductor materials, paint formulations, lithium rechargeable batteries, and is often applied in industrial fields. It is known that Fe2O3 can be synthesized through the stirring process on machine and method used will involve several steps that relatively take a long time. In this study, Al-Si alloy reinforced by using nanomaterial Fe2O3 which sintered at a temperature of 600C for 3 hours aimed to improve mechanical and …

The Characteristic Of Overhang Object To Material Usage On Fdm 3d Printing Technology, Redyarsa Dharma Bintara, Aminnudin Aminnudin, Zumrotul Ida, Ferian Rizki Arbianto, Dani Prasetiyo

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Fuse Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing is one of additive manufacturing technology which physical 3D model is build up layer by layer. The support structure is almost involved on the process if overhang shape is met on the 3D model. It has main function to prevent the 3D printed model from collapsing. Commonly, the single material source of FDM 3D printer machine is to supply building two structure, structure of main 3D object and support structure. Hence, our goal optimizes the using of support material for reducing the main material usage. Furthermore, the sixteen of variation overhang angle is set …