Engineering Commons^™

A Digital Image Analysis Of Gravel Aggregate Using Ct Scanning Technique, Jiangfeng Wu, Linbing Wang, Yue Hou, Haocheng Xiong, Yang Lu, Lei Zhang

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Particle shape was one of the most important factors which affects the gravel aggregate’s properties. It was also one of the important factors that directly affects the performance of asphalt pavements. In this paper, the gravel aggregate of quartzite was studied by using the industrial CT instrument. MATLAB was used to capture the aggregate slice properties including reverse color, median filtering, noise reduction, binarization and so on. The 3D aggregate model was reconstructed by using the software of MIMICS. The three-dimensional model of the aggregate was further optimized. The best fitting cuboid, cylinder, cone and sphere information of the aggregate …

Inspire E-News 03 2018, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• Give a Slice on Pi Day -- March 14
• WMU to host regional steel bridge, concrete canoe competitions
• Saeed honored with distinguished research award
• MVP Award goes to Engelmann
• Save the date: Custer Talk March 20
• College Snapshot: Give A Slice on Pi Day

From A Locally Competitive Algorithm To Sensory Relevance Models, Walter Woods

Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD Day

This poster addresses the development of a new Machine Learning (ML) mechanism, the Sensory Relevance Model (SRM), as a means of splitting information processing tasks into two sub-tasks with more intuitive properties. Specifically, SRMs are a front-end for other ML techniques, re-mapping the input data to a similar space with significantly more sparsity, achieved through the transformation and suppression of inputs irrelevant to the task. Prior work has attempted to reveal this information for Neural Networks (NNs) either as a post-processing step via saliency maps or through a simple masking of the input achieved with a dot product (so-called ``attention'' …

Coaxial Magnetic Gearbox With A Flux Concentration Halbach Rotor And Consequent Pole Rotor Typology, Ho Yin Wong

Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD Day

This paper presents the performance comparison between a flux concentration and triple permanent magnet consequent pole magnetic gear rotor typology with the same 7.5:1 gear ratio. The triple permanent magnet consequent pole magnetic gear is unique in that it can create torque change through two field heterodyning pole combinations. The performance with respect to volumetric and mass torque density is considered. It is shown that the flux concentration typology can operate with a higher mass and volumetric higher torque density, even when using a low flux concentration ratio rotor.

Magnetically Geared Lead Screw, Mojtaba Bahrami Kouhshahi

Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD Day

New magnetically geared lead screw (MGLS) is proposed in this work, which relies only on magnetic loading. Therefore it can provide speed and force conversion like its mechanical counterparts, but unlike the mechanical gears, a MGLS contact-less operation enables it to operate without lubrication and it can operate with low noise, and higher efficiency. Its reliance on magnetic loading also provides overload protection. MGLS combines the concepts of two previously proposed actuators named linear magnetic gear (LMG) and magnetic lead screw (MLS). However, unlike the LMG and MLS the translator on a MGLS does not contain magnets and therefore for …

Construction Innovation Center- Fire And Life Safety Analysis, Matthew Atwell

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

In this report you will find the analysis of existing fire protection systems and features that are installed in the Construction Innovation Center at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The Buildings construction was completed in 2008 and is separated into three separate buildings A, B, and C connected by an exterior balcony. This report is separated into two separate analysis Prescriptive and Performance.

The Prescriptive analysis reviews the buildings means of egress, fire alarm systems, the suppression systems, and the structural fire protection. The Prescriptive-based analysis of the Construction Innovation Center confirms that the building meets the requirements …

Building 43: Recreation Center - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Daniel Gonzalez

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The purpose of this project is to analyze the Fire Protection systems of the Recreation Center on campus at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Only the building itself is analyzed in this project. This report provides both a prescriptive-based and performance-based analysis of the building. The prescriptive-based analysis includes an overview of the structural components and their fire resistance, the sprinkler system, the fire alarm system, as well as an egress analysis. The performance-based analysis consists of three different potential fire scenarios, with the first being modeled with both Pathfinder and Pyrosim. Resources used are the building’s floor …

Dermal Uptake Of Nicotine From Air And Clothing: Experimental Verification, G. Bekö, Glenn Morrison, C. J. Weschler, H. M. Koch, C. Pälmke, T. Salthammer, T. Schripp, A. Eftekhari, J. Toftum, G. Clausen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study aims to elucidate in greater detail the dermal uptake of nicotine from air or from nicotine-exposed clothes, which was demonstrated recently in a preliminary study. Six non-smoking participants were exposed to gaseous nicotine (between 236 and 304 μg/m3) over 5 hours while breathing clean air through a hood. Four of the participants wore only shorts and 2 wore a set of clean clothes. One week later, 2 of the bare-skinned participants were again exposed in the chamber, but they showered immediately after exposure instead of the following morning. The 2 participants who wore clean clothes on week 1 …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, March 2018, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Joint Pilot Allocation And Robust Transmission Design For Ultra-Dense User-Centric Tdd C-Ran With Imperfect Csi, Cunhua Pan, Hani Mehrpouyan, Yuanwei Liu, Maged Elkashlan, Arumugam Nallanathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper considers the unavailability of complete channel state information (CSI) in ultra-dense cloud radio access networks (C-RANs). The user-centric cluster is adopted to reduce the computational complexity, while the incomplete CSI is considered to reduce the heavy channel training overhead, where only large-scale inter-cluster CSI is available. Channel estimation for intra-cluster CSI is also considered, where we formulate a joint pilot allocation and user equipment (UE) selection problem to maximize the number of admitted UEs with fixed number of pilots. A novel pilot allocation algorithm is proposed by considering the multi-UE pilot interference. Then, we consider robust beam-vector optimization …

Understanding Homogeneous Nucleation In Solidification Of Aluminum By Molecular Dynamics Simulations, A. Mahata, Mohsen Asle Zaeem, M. I. Baskes

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Homogeneous nucleation from aluminum (Al) melt was investigated by million-atom molecular dynamics simulations utilizing the second nearest neighbor modified embedded atom method potentials. The natural spontaneous homogenous nucleation from the Al melt was produced without any influence of pressure, free surface effects and impurities. Initially isothermal crystal nucleation from undercooled melt was studied at different constant temperatures, and later superheated Al melt was quenched with different cooling rates. The crystal structure of nuclei, critical nucleus size, critical temperature for homogenous nucleation, induction time, and nucleation rate were determined. The quenching simulations clearly revealed three temperature regimes: sub-critical nucleation, super-critical nucleation, …

Correlation For Sessile Drop Evaporation Over A Wide Range Of Drop Volatilities, Ambient Gases And Pressures, Peter Kelly-Zion, Christopher J. Pursell, Gregory N. Wassom, Brenton V. Mandelkorn, Chris Nkinthorn

Engineering Faculty Research

A correlation for the evaporation of sessile drops over a very broad range of conditions was developed based on measured evaporation rate data obtained for drops of acetone, methanol, and six hydrocarbons ranging from hexane to isooctane, evaporating in air, helium, argon, and krypton, over a range of ambient pressures from 96 kPa to 615 kPa. The experiments were designed to produce a large variation in the rates of diffusion and buoyancy-induced (natural) convection of the vapor phase amongst the experimental conditions. The correlation, which fits the measurements with an RMS relative error of 5.2%, is a simple equation involving …

Organizimi I Ndërtimit Të Fushës Sportive Në Fshatin Bolevc Të Komunës Së Kamenicës, Shqiprim Thaqi

Theses and Dissertations

Menaxhimi dhe shkenca e organizimit të ndërtimit ka rëndësi të madhe për zhvillimin e një shoqërie bashkëkohore. Menaxhimi nëpërmjet planifikimit, organizimit, udhëheqjes dhe kontrollit të resurseve organizative, arrin qëllimin organizativ në mënyrë efikase. Të gjitha teknikat e menaxhimit fillojnë nga stili kooperativ i udhëheqjes si teknika të ndërmarrjes. Qëllimi kryesor i këtij studimi është që të analizohet mënyra e organizimit të një projekti ndërtimor me profesionalizëm sipas standardeve dhe rregullave ndërtimore. Si duhet të bëhet organizimi i mirëfilltë i një projekti ndërtimor duke përfshirë punimin e paramasës dhe parallogarisë, si dhe të planeve dinamike? Cila është mënyra e punës dhe …

Teknologjia E Kubëzave Të Betonit, Mevlide Toska

Theses and Dissertations

Kjo temë diskuton ndikimin e betonit në jetën e njerëzve e cila mund të themi se është bëre pjesë e pandashme e njeriut, më gjerësisht kjo temë fokusohet në kubëzat e betonit, në aplikimin e tyre në Kosovë, prodhimi i tyre se në cilën mënyre bëhet, si dhe hapat të cilat duhet kaluar për prodhimin e tyre, përdorimin e aditivëve, dhe elementeve tjera përbërëse për një prodhim sa më kualitativ të teknologjisë së kubëzave. Prodhimi i betonit, poashtu është duke u zhvilluar në hapa të shpejte, dhe me përdorim të madh në tregun Kosovar,pasi që kemi një zhvillim të hovshëm …

Plant Identification Using Tensorflow, Kody G. Dangtongdee

Computer Engineering

Exploring the diverse nature that is available in San Luis Obispo is one of my favorite activities, however, I often am frustrated that I am unable to identify or learn more about the plants that I appreciate. This project is an attempt at using the concepts of neural networks to create an image classifier which can identify plants. Machine learning is one of the biggest topics in computer science at the moment, and its many uses make it a topic that will continue to be researched for a very long time. Convolutional neural networks are a popular realm of machine …

A New Hybrid Decision Support Tool For Evaluating The Sustainability Of Mining Projects, S. Kamenopoulos, Zacharias Agioutantis, K. Komnitsas

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

The integration of sustainable development challenges and opportunities into the decision making process during the design and/or implementation of multi-disciplinary mining projects is generally not supported by decision support systems (DSS). A new hybrid decision support tool, which features an integrated assessment of sustainable development issues as they apply to mining projects, is hereby proposed. The proposed DSS framework, named “Acropolis DSS”, can be used to assist involved stakeholders in critical decisions, especially when addressing issues such as stakeholder participation, transparency, and trade-offs. The proposed DSS is based on a multi-criteria decision analysis combined with the multi-attribute utility theory.

Reliability Analysis For Mine Blast Performance Based On Delay Type And Firing Time, Jhon Silva-Castro, Lifeng Li, Jeremy M. Gernand

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Mining blasts may be defined as the use of explosive charges in a controlled manner by following a tightly controlled timing sequence according to an assigned firing order. Changes of timing between charges may result in an altered firing order and failure of the blasting sequence, which can cause high vibration levels, poor fragmentation, and/or an undesirable rock mass movement direction. Despite the importance of timing in determining mine blast results, there exists a lack of methodologies or tools with which to assess performance of a complete blast based on delay type and timing sequence. This document applies reliability engineering …

Crumpling Effects And Specific Absorption Rates Of Flexible Amc Integrated Antennas, Sima Noghanian, Ala Alemaryeen

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

This study presents the design of a wearable textile-based monopole antenna integrated with a flexible artificial magnetic conductor (AMC). The proposed design covers the industrial, scientific, and medical 2.45 GHz band. An AMC reflector is utilised to isolate the human body from undesired electromagnetic radiation and to improve the antenna radiation characteristics. A monopole antenna was backed with an AMC reflector and tested in free space and on human body models. The inclusion of an AMC reflector increases the front-to-back ratio and antenna gain in free space. On the human body models, the AMC antenna provides stable performance and a …

Affective Computing For Emotion Detection Using Vision And Wearable Sensors, Alphonsus Keary

PhDs

The research explores the opportunities, challenges, limitations, and presents advancements in computing that relates to, arises from, or deliberately influences emotions (Picard, 1997). The field is referred to as Affective Computing (AC) and is expected to play a major role in the engineering and development of computationally and cognitively intelligent systems, processors and applications in the future. Today the field of AC is bolstered by the emergence of multiple sources of affective data and is fuelled on by developments under various Internet of Things (IoTs) projects and the fusion potential of multiple sensory affective data streams. The core focus of …

Optimization Of A New Array Noise Tool; Analysis & Interpretation Of Case Studies Of Down- Hole Leak Detection, Moustafa Mahmoud Hassan Ismail

Theses

This thesis is concerned with the optimization and analysis of new array noise tools. Various lab and field case studies are analyzed to test the capabilities and determine the optimum operating conditions of the new tool for leak detection purposes. The purpose of this study is to optimize the logging procedure of real-time array noise tool, selecting adequate gain parameters and frequency band in the processing phase, and to analyze the data acquired through multiple labs and field tests. The study methodology involved the following steps:

1. Performing lab and field tests for the tool in a range of different …

A New Wiretap Channel Model And Its Strong Secrecy Capacity, Mohamed Nafea, Aylin Yener

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new wiretap channel model is proposed, where the legitimate transmitter and receiver communicate over a discrete memoryless channel. The wiretapper has perfect access to a fixed-length subset of the transmitted code word symbols of her choosing. Additionally, she observes the remainder of the transmitted symbols through a discrete memoryless channel. This new model subsumes the classical wiretap channel and wiretap channel II with noisy main channel as its special cases and is termed as the generalized wiretap channel for that reason. The strong secrecy capacity of the proposed channel model is identified. Achievability is established by …

Injectable Glass Polyalkenoate Cements: Evaluation Of Their Rheological And Mechanical Properties With And Without The Incorporation Of Lidocaine Hydrochloride, P. Niranjan, A. Alhalawani, S. Phull, I. Beniluz, B. Krishnan, P. Zalzal, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lidocaine hydrochloride is used as an anesthetic in many clinical applications. This short communication investigates the effect of complete substitution of lidocaine hydrochloride for deionized (DI) water on the physico-chemical properties of two novel glass polyalkenoate cements. Substituting DI water with lidocaine hydrochloride resulted in cements with shorter working times but comparable setting times and mechanical properties. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed that the setting reaction in cements containing DI water and lidocaine hydrochloride was completed within 24 h, post cement preparation and maturation. Further, it was explained that lidocaine hydrochloride binds to poly(acrylic) acid (PAA) due to electrostatic forces …

The Effect Of Mg²⁺ Incorporation Into The Glass Phase Of Zinc-Based Glass Polyalkenoate Cements, Basel A. Khader, Omar Rodriguez, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The suitability of glass polyalkenoate cements (GPCs) as injectable adhesives in orthopedics have been compromised by the presence of aluminum (Al), a component in the glass phase of all commercial GPCs. There has been considerable work on the development of Al-free GPCs which can be formulated based on calcium (Ca) zinc (Zn) silicate (Si) glasses. These materials, in terms of biocompatibility and mechanical properties, have potential for orthopedics. However, many of these experimental Al-free GPCs have setting times shorter than 60 s, restricting clinical applications. Here, the authors incorporate Magnesium (Mg) into the glass phase of Al-free GPCs in an …

Twisting Phase And Intensity Of Light With Plasmonic Metasurfaces, Yuchao Zhang, Xiaodong Yang, Jie Gao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Twisting light in both phase and intensity has recently drawn great interests in various fields related to light-matter interactions such as optical manipulation of particles and quantum entanglement of photons. Conventionally, bulky optical components are required to produce such twisted optical beams, which significantly limits their applications in integrated photonics and optical chips. Here, we design and demonstrate aluminum plasmonic metasurfaces consisting of nanoslit antennas as ultracompact beam converters to generate the focused twisted beams in both phase and intensity across the visible wavelength range. The metasurface is encoded with the combined phase profile containing the helico-conical phase function together …

Ultra-Broadband Infrared Absorption By Tapered Hyperbolic Multilayer Waveguides, Huixu Deng, Cherian J. Mathai, Shubhra Gangopadhyay, Jie Gao, Xiaodong Yang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ultra-broadband strong absorption over 92% covering the infrared wavelength range of 1 ~ 6μm is demonstrated by using the tapered hyperbolic Au-SiO₂ multilayer waveguides on glass substrates. Such broadband absorption is formed by the stop-light modes at various wavelengths located at different waveguide widths. A planar hyperbolic waveguide model is built to determine the stop-light modes by considering both forward and backward guided modes. The stop-light modes located inside the Au-SiO₂ multilayer waveguide are simulated at the absorption peaks by reducing the Au loss. Tapered multilayer waveguides with varying top widths are further simulated, fabricated and measured, indicating …

Wavelength-Selective Mid-Infrared Metamaterial Absorbers With Multiple Tungsten Cross Resonators, Zhigang Li, Liliana Stan, David A. Czaplewski, Xiaodong Yang, Jie Gao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wavelength-selective metamaterial absorbers in the mid-infrared range are demonstrated by using multiple tungsten cross resonators. By adjusting the geometrical parameters of cross resonators in single-sized unit cells, near-perfect absorption with single absorption peak tunable from 3.5 µm to 5.5 µm is realized. The combination of two, three, or four cross resonators of different sizes in one unit cell enables broadband near-perfect absorption at mid-infrared range. The obtained absorption spectra exhibit omnidirectionality and weak dependence on incident polarization. The underlying mechanism of near-perfect absorption with cross resonators is further explained by the optical mode analysis, dispersion relation and equivalent RLC circuit …

Review Of State Transportation Funding Initiatives, Bryan Gibson, Christopher W. Van Dyke, Steven Waddle, Steven Douglas Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Despite significant cutbacks to the funding allocated to state departments of transportation (DOTs), demand for accessible and reliable transportation has increased even as existing transportation infrastructure has continued to age. Falling gasoline tax revenues resulting from increasing fuel efficiency and technological advancements have prevented state DOTs, including the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), from funding and financing much-needed transportation projects. Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which provides funding to states and is tied to the federal gas tax, routinely receives cash infusions from the Federal General Fund to remain solvent—the federal gas tax has not been increased since 1993. Needing …

Modeling Adversarial Insider Vehicles In Mix Zones, Nicholas Plewtong

Master's Theses

Security is a necessity when dealing with new forms of technology that may not have been analyzed from a security perspective. One of the latest growing technological advances are Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs). VANETs allow vehicles to communicate information to each other wirelessly which allows for an increase in safety and efficiency for vehicles. However, with this new type of computerized system comes the need to maintain security on top of it.

In order to try to protect location privacy of the vehicles in the system, vehicles change pseudonyms or identifiers at areas known as mix zones. This thesis implements …

The Positive Role Of Curcumin-Loaded Salmon Nanoliposomes On The Culture Of Primary Cortical Neurons, Mahmoud Hasan, Shahrzad Latifi, Cyril J.F. Kahn, Ali Tamayol, Rouhollah Habibey, Elodie Passeri, Michel Linder, Elmira Arab-Tehrany

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a natural bioactive compound with many health-promoting benefits. However, its poor water solubility and bioavailability has limited curcumin’s biomedical application. In the present study, we encapsulated curcumin into liposomes, formed from natural sources (salmon lecithin), and characterized its encapsulation efficiency and release profile. The proposed natural carriers increased the solubility and the bioavailability of curcumin. In addition, various physico-chemical properties of the developed soft nanocarriers with and without curcumin were studied. Nanoliposome-encapsulated curcumin increased the viability and network formation in the culture of primary cortical neurons and decreased the rate of apoptosis.

Computational Investigation Using Bleed As A Method Of Shock Stabilization, Dayle L. Chang

Theses and Dissertations

Shock-wave/boundary layer interactions (SWBLI) produce undesirable dynamic loads and separated unsteady flows, adversely impacting the performance and structural integrity of supersonic vehicles. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a successful tool in experimental planning and shows promise as a critical tool in understanding and mitigating negative effects of SWBLI. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the effect of bleed holes on shock stability using the OVERFLOW CFD solver to inform the planning of an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) SWBLI wind tunnel experiment. First, a two-dimensional, flat plate, single-hole configuration was developed. Massflow discrepancies of 14.8% were initially observed …