Engineering Commons^™

General Methods For The Thermal Design Of Data Centers Based On Evaporative Cooling, Raghvendra Parinam

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

With the increasing load on the servers, the cost and energy required to cool a data center has been on the rise. This has kept the researchers to explore more efficient and economical cooling technologies for data centers. One such technology is evaporative cooling. The evaporative cooling systems are one of the most effective methods available for cooling the data centers. So, developing the generic methods for the thermal design of data centers is of utmost importance. This research aims to identify, develop and validate the thermal model for Direct Evaporative Cooling and Indirect Evaporative Cooling. By taking the environmental …

Psychrometric Bin Analysis For Data Center Cooling Modes Using Artificial Neural Networks, Abhishek Uday Walekar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

With an increase in the need for energy efficient data centers, a lot of research is being done to increase the use of Air Side Economizers (ASEs), Direct Evaporative Cooling (DEC), Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) and multistage I/DEC cooling. The cooling strategies used to control these systems is based on typical meteorological year (TMY) weather data and thermodynamic principles. But the main drawback of these control strategies is that they do not account for the nonlinearities developed by the conditions inside the data center. So, the primary objective of this study is to use Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for predicting …

Comparison Of Cross-Sectional Profiles For Side Impact Crash Structure In Passenger Vehicle, Nitish Sharma

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Car’s safety is most important structural criteria while designing an automotive chassis. To protect the occupants from a direct impact, the passenger cabin and the structure of the vehicle should have an appropriate stiffness so that the it absorbs any kind of impact and keeps the passenger safe. Design standards are set by various vehicle safety association around the world based on different crash situations i.e. front crash, side impact, roll over etc. Among these standards, side impact crash account for over all 40% crashes all around the world and is one of the most fatal crash scenarios. This research …

Understanding The Decision-Making Process Of Local Level Emergency Managers And Future Impacts Of Social Data, Justin Taylor

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

During the course of a natural disaster, affected populations turn to different avenues to attempt to communicate their needs and locations while emergency managers are faced with the task of making quick decisions to aid in the response effort. The decisions that emergency managers face are affected by factors such as available resources, responder safety, and source of information. In this research, we interview emergency managers about the 2009 North American Ice Storm and a flooding event in late April of 2017 to understand the decisions made and the factors that affected these decisions. Using these interviews, a list of …

Modeling Commodity Flow As A Statistical Function Of Lock Unavailability And Usage, Grace Mcgee

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The inland waterway system in the United States allows for the transportation of commodities, and interruptions to the system can have remarkable economic consequences. This research estimates statistical models of commodity flow as a function of lock usage and lock unavailability to discover relationships between system disruption and economic penalties. Findings specifically complement a portfolio of research conducted by the Maritime Transportation Research & Education Center (MarTREC) for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to aid in decision making and resource planning for lock maintenance.

Developing An Hpv Infection Risk Prediction Model For Adult Females, Rachel Holmer

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one in four people are currently infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) in the United States. Although most people with HPV never experience symptoms, there is a risk of developing different types of HPV-related cancers after infection. These cancers and other related diseases result in almost $8 billion spent annually for treatment. Currently, all boys and girls ages 11 or 12 years are recommended to receive HPV vaccination. Catch-up vaccines are recommended for males and females through the age of 21 and 26, respectively, if they did not get vaccinated …

Lithium And The Foreseeable Future, Paolo Vargas

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper aims to clarify the uncertainties regarding worldwide lithium resource availability in the years to come. Previous studies made on the subject are presented with some ambiguity and this work intends to fill the gaps. The information and data presented throughout this script with respect to global lithium resources and reserves are mostly based on data released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Lithium resource availability in the future is a point of paramount significance primarily for the automotive, portable electronics, and the power generation industry. Since, a change of supply would ultimately affect the price of lithium, …

Finite Element Optimization Of A Mechanical Device For Connecting Dissimilar Materials, Eric Yoon

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Increasing Food Sharing In A Prek-8 School Cafeteria With Six Sigma, Sanukta Mylandla

Graduate Theses - Engineering Management

Six Sigma, a statistics-based methodology developed by Motorola in the mid-1980’s to help reduce defects, is a tool commonly applied across various industries to improve their processes by reducing variation. The statistical nature of Six Sigma makes process improvement a quantitative study garnering potential real savings to an organization. This project’s goal was to apply Six Sigma methodology to a PreK-8 school cafeteria in order to measure the daily levels of food waste and convert it into meaningful data to be used to promote food rescue and reuse at local elementary schools.

Impact Of Antenna Mutual Coupling, Propagation, And Nonreciprocity On Propagation-Based Key Establishment, Attiya Mahmood

Theses and Dissertations

Propagation-based key establishment is a physical layer method for generating encryption keys based on two radios observing a reciprocal propagation channel. This work explores the impact of mutual coupling when communicating nodes are equipped with multiple antennas, multipath richness in the propagation environment, and practical limitations caused by the nonreciprocal nature of RF circuits on key establishment. First, network theory is used to formulate a model of a realistic communication system which incorporates transmit sources and receive loads, impedance matching networks, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), mutually coupled antenna arrays, and a passive eavesdropper. Afterwards, a detailed analysis is performed to quantify …

Intersection Safety Analysis Methodology For Utah Roadways, Joshua Daniel Gibbons

Theses and Dissertations

Roadway safety continues to be a priority for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Traffic and Safety Division. UDOT has participated in and managed several research projects in recent years to determine the roadway segments of highest safety concern in the state. This research has provided UDOT with more tools to assist in safety project prioritization. Researchers in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU) have worked with UDOT and the Statistics Department at BYU to create two network screening statistical tools called the Utah Crash Prediction Model (UCPM) and the Utah Crash Severity Model (UCSM) …

Method Of Increasing Mass Transfer Rate Of Acid Gas Scrubbing Solvents, Cameron Anthony Lippert, Kunlei Liu, Christine Marie Brandewie, Joseph Eugene Remias, Moushumi Sarma

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty Patents

A method and catalysts for increasing the overall mass transfer rate of acid gas scrubbing solids is disclosed. Various catalyst compounds for that purpose are also disclosed.

Quantification Of Tumor-Associated Macrophages Following Immunomodulation Therapy In A Murine Allograft Model Of Colorectal Carcinoma, Caroline Spainhour

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Colorectal Carcinoma (CRC) is one of the deadliest cancers in the world, with 150,000 new cases annually in the United States. Traditional treatments include chemotherapy and invasive surgery; however, research has shown that only 25% of patients that undergo traditional treatment have a positive result. Immunotherapy is an emerging form of cancer treatment that utilizes the patients’immune system to fight cancer cells by targeting inflammation, which plays a large role in the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are immune cells that affect the inflammatory microenvironment of tumors. TAMs are M1 in the early stages of tumors, …

Professional Practice For Constructors, Tristan M. Soltero

Construction Management

This project based senior project focuses on the creation of a fully online topics course called CM 463: Professional Practice for Constructors. The course itself will be based on the project management body of knowledge and will cover several the chapters either in depth or briefly. A few of the topics introduced throughout the course will be: Project Scope, Project Time, and Project Cost. Although most students may have already touched basis on the subjects throughout the current curriculum, the management perspective of these project essentials are overlooked. While each chapter will be introduced throughout the course, a project lasting …

On The Development Of A Human Thumb Tracking Device For Telemanipulation, Abdul Hafiz Abdul Rahaman

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The human thumb is the first digit of the hand and influences the grasping capability of the human hand. Based on literature, most sensor gloves available capture the motion of the fingers, however, they lack the ability to capture the motion of the thumb. This research focuses on developing a methodology and associated hardware to capture the complex joint motion of the thumb and map it to an in-house developed multi-degree of freedom robotic thumb. A sensor device was developed to measure four joint angles of the human thumb, namely three flexion/extension (flex/ext) joint angles of carpometacarpal (CMC), metacarpophalangeal (MCP), …

Sparse Representation And Learning For Discriminative Eeg Source Imaging, Feng Liu

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

As a direct measurement modality of neural electrical firing patterns, electroencephalogram (EEG) has a much higher temporal resolution up to millisecond compared to positron emission topography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and it has become one of the popular neuroimaging tools to find signatures of brain diseases and to understand how the brain works. Other advantages of EEG include low cost, easy portability, and non-invasive. However, a limitation of EEG is its low spatial resolution since the measurement is on the scalp rather than inside the brain. Given the recorded scalp EEG data, to reconstruct the activated brain …

Application Of The Research Process For The Development Of A Microgrid Modular Design For Tribal Healthcare Facilities In The Navajo Nation: Kayenta Health Center Used As A Subject Study For Experimental Data, Samuel Vega-Cotto

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

There exist significant challenges and opportunities for improvement the power system of healthcare facilities for American Indian and Alaska natives. This Dissertation establishes plans and methodology to include the research process in the power system design utilizing Kayenta health center, which is located in the Navajo nation, as a subject study. Information about the solar irradiance on site, the PV system performance, the power quality and the power system load demand at the facility as well as observation of the related equipment is gathered. The Dissertation describes a seasonal experimental process related to a 100KW PV system case study at …

Improved Initialization For The Multi Layer Perceptron, Abhishek Vinay Mainkar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

A Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network is used for solving nonlinear functional problems like function approximation, classification, data processing etc. MLP neural networks are usually trained using back propagation, which is a non-convex optimization problem for most of the loss functions. As there are multiple local minima, non-convex optimization curves generally converge to different optimal points for different initial conditions. So it not only affects the speed of the convergence but optimality as well. Initial parameters of neural networks are as important as the network architecture and initialization has been thoroughly studied in the past. This report discusses the fusion …

Quantitative Methods For Select Problems In Facility Location And Facility Logistics, Bin Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presented three logistics problems. The first problem is a parallel machine scheduling problems that considers multiple unique characteristics including release dates, due dates, limited machine availability and job splitting. The objective of is to minimize the total amount of time required to complete work. A mixed integer programming model is presented and a heuristic is developed for solving the problem. The second problem extends the first parallel scheduling problem to include two additional practical considerations. The first is a setup time that occurs when warehouse staff change from one type of task to another. The second is a …

Aquaponic System Design And Modeling Ammonia Production: An Overview Of Aquaponics, Spencer Davis Wright

Graduate Theses - Mechanical Engineering

The study of aquaponics in academia has been slowly gaining momentum, but the majority of the research and testing performed is done in an informal, backyard setting. This publication seeks to collate the widespread information into a singular location, as well as to outline various methods by which the necessary tasks can be accomplished. The ammonia production rate of the aquatic life in the system, whether living or deceased, was also explored in order that a more accurate model of the ammonia and nitrate levels of the system may be created. It was found that 20 tilapia produced approximately 3,300 …

Mine Arnaud Project: Flotation Circuit Adjustment And Collector Reduction, Christine Croteau, Patrick Laflamme, Michel Lafontaine

Beneficiation of Phosphates VIII

The Mine Arnaud open deposit is located in Sept-Iles in the province of Quebec, Canada. The project, which is currently under development, consists of igneous apatite ore grading around 5% P₂O₅.The target metallurgical performances are set to a concentrate of P₂O₅ grade of at least 39% with an overall P₂O₅ recovery above 90%.The beneficiation of the ore is achieved by grinding to the liberation size, magnetic separation to remove the titaniferous magnetite and phosphate flotation. Most of Mine Arnaud’s apatite beneficiation flowsheet development testwork was realized by COREM. The most …

Effective Resource Utilization In Arkansas Public Schools, Ryan Sanders

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Teacher pay in Arkansas public schools varies widely from district to district across the state. This pay discrepancy is driven by both the funds available to a district and by how these funds are allocated. There is a standard per student budget given to districts across the state, but this budget can be supplemented by additional property taxes collected on property within a district. This leaves districts with more highly valued property at an advantage. Districts are free to allocate their budget for teacher pay as they see fit, with constraints on number of students per teacher and minimum teacher …

Developing An Ergonomic Model And Automation Justification For Industrial Spraying Operations: A Case Study, Anthony Woods

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Industrial spraying tasks prove to be some of the most dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs in the modern day. Although it is a ripe area for automation, justification methods do not typically account for the potential improvements in the ergonomics of a task from automating it. In addition, there is a gap in the ergonomics literature in formal methodologies to comprehensively evaluate an industrial spraying task ergonomically, including all relevant musculoskeletal elements. This research focuses on first developing a formal, comprehensive methodology for ergonomically evaluating industrial spraying tasks and attaining a final classification of the ergonomic ranking of the task. …

Multipurpose Iron Man Glove & Moveable Platform, Destinee Davis, João Marques, Thomas Plantin

Mechatronics Final Projects

The multipurpose glove is a hand-worn device that wirelessly controls the position of a platform and flashes a high power LED at a particular frequency in order to alias the motion of an oscillatory object. The position and motion of the platform is dictated by an accelerometer which is attached to the top of the glove, as shown in Fig. 1. The user can then tilt the hand forward, backward, left, or right, to cause the platform to move towards a desired location. The user can also adjust the flashing frequency of the high power LED that is attached to …

Identification Of Phase-Based Key Performance Factors And Their Best Practices In Construction Projects, Mohammadreza Habibi

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Delay and cost overrun in construction projects are two widespread problems arousing practitioners’ and scholars’ concerns as poor time and cost performance lead construction projects to failure. It is estimated that more than half of the construction industry’s projects encounter significant cost overruns and major delays, resulting in the industry having a tarnished reputation. Despite the attempts of numerous researchers to identify key performance factors, their results have been inconsistent. Most of the literature has focused solely on the construction phase budget and time overruns; the engineering/design and procurement phase costs and schedule performances have been rarely studied. Therefore, the …

Remaining Useful Life Prediction Of Water Pipes Using Artificial Neural Network And Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System Models, Razieh Tavakoli

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The U.S. water distribution system contains thousands of miles of pipes with differing materials, sizes, and ages. These pipes experience physical, environmental, structural and operational parameters that cause corrosion and eventually lead to their failures. The Remaining Useful Life (RUL) is the estimated time before a pipe will experience a failure mode specifically a pipe break. Pipe failure means collapse and deterioration of water pipes overtime. Pipe deterioration results in increased break rates, reduced hydraulic capacity, and detrimental impacts on water quality. Therefore, it is crucial to perform accurate models that can forecast deterioration rates along with estimates of remaining …

Comparison Of Ground Movements During Trenchless Technology Operations For Pipe And Box Installations By Numerical Analysis, Taha Ashoori

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Trenchless Technologies (TTs) are alternatives or methods of choice for the construction and renewal of buried pipe or box with little or no surface disruption. Specifically, TTs are used when other traditional methods, such as cut-and-cover methods are not physically possible. Other reasons for TT methods to be increasingly adopted by owners, engineers, and contractors are their low environmental impacts and, based on the project and the site conditions, lower costs per foot of installed pipe, making these technologies much more efficient and versatile with final results within a shorter time span. Trenchless technology methods are divided into two main …

Framework For Determining The Pullout Resistance Of Inextensible 2-Wire Soil-Reinforcing Elements Embedded In Sand, Thomas Patrick Taylor

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) has been successfully used as a commercial retaining structure since its development in 1963 by Henry Vidal (Schlosser 1990). MSE is a ground improvement system that consists of soil-reinforcing, compacted backfill, and a facing. The initial soil-reinforcing developed for commercial use by Vidal consisted of a smooth steel strip. Since then, a diverse range of soil-reinforcing has been developed, including extensible and inextensible reinforcing. The various geometric configurations of soil-reinforcing have included wide width and narrow width elements comprising planar strips, planar grids, co-planar strips, co-planar grids, and wide sheets. General specifications categorize inextensible soil-reinforcing into …

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Of Commercial Space Transportation Activities In The United States, Shelia Scott Neumann

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Commercial Space Transportation (CST) activities in the United States are increasing and have increased over 50% in the last year. The launches in the United States for commercial purposes are expected to increase another 50% in the next 3-5 years. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental assessments do provide the regulatory environmental analysis for launching space vehicles within the United States. However, the environmental impacts from these launches have not been fully characterized. One method to characterize environmental impacts from a system is through conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on an international standard, ISO14040. The results from …

Assessment Of Sustainability And Resilience In Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnics, Jasaswee T. Das

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Transportation infrastructure, such as roads, embankments, bridges, railroads, airports, docks, and canals, serve as pathways for the mobility of people, goods, and services, and form the backbone of cities and communities. The construction, operation, and rehabilitation of these facilities put significant strain on the local, state, and federal agencies, including depletion of natural resources, and contributing to the global carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. Further, these features stimulate anthropocentric development in a region which affects the land-use patterns and influences the demography of communities. In recent years, most transportation infrastructure are typically designed to withstand external and internal disturbances …