Engineering Commons^™

Improvements In Gasb Homoepitaxial And Imf Solar Cells Grown Via Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Emily Kessler

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

No abstract provided.

Vacuum Field Emission Devices With Integrated Cnts, Leo Kheyn-Kheyfets

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

No abstract provided.

Enhanced Boron Activation In Xenon Flash Lamp Annealed Polysilicon Through Pre-Amorphization, Adam Rosenfeld

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

No abstract provided.

Silicon Nanowire Solar Cells By Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching, Cody Soule

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

No abstract provided.

Resistance Temperature Detectors In A Cryostat Refrigeration System, Kirsten Marie Manahan, Alice Callen

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a ground-based telescope that will survey the Southern sky every few nights. Located in the telescope will be a 3.2 gigapixel digital camera. To ensure proper instrumentation of the camera, there must be a monitored stable temperature. As part of my research, I assembled resistance temperature detectors and tested them to verify their reliability in measuring temperature in the camera’s cryostat refrigeration cooling system. Resistance temperature detectors function by the principle of thermal resistivity, in which their electrical resistances vary as temperature varies. Through testing, I was able to determine whether these particular …

Implementation Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Reporting Plume Cloud Concentration Values In A 3d Simulation Environment, Emily Catherine Novak

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have the potential to vastly improve plume cloud tracking at low cost. Plume clouds can be produced from blast mining, chemical warfare, unintended man-made disasters, and natural causes. This thesis provides implementation of the capability to simulate a 3D environment in which UAVs are individually controlled and each report a plume's concentration value at a specific location. It leverages existing industry standard technologies, including the PX4 autopilot system, the Gazebo simulation environment, the Robot Operating System (ROS), and QGroundControl. The provided system integrates the existing tools with a plume model plug-in that provides simulated plume …

Approaches To Denoise The Diffuse Optical Signals For Tissue Blood Flow Measurement, Peng Zhang, Zhiguo Gui, Yu Shang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Various diseases are relevant to the abnormal blood flow in tissue. Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is an emerging technology to extract the blood flow index (BFI) from light electric field temporal autocorrelation data. To account for tissue heterogeneity and irregular geometry, we developed an innovative DCS algorithm (i.e., the Nth order linear algorithm, or simply the NL algorithm) previously, in which the DCS signals are fully utilized through iterative linear regressions. Under the framework of NL algorithm, the BFI to be extracted is significantly influenced by the linear regression approach adopted. In this study, three approaches were proposed and evaluated …

Analytical Cpg Model Driven By Limb Velocity Input Generates Accurate Temporal Locomotor Dynamics, Sergiy Yakovenko, Anton Sobinov, Valeriya Gritsenko

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The ability of vertebrates to generate rhythm within their spinal neural networks is essential for walking, running, and other rhythmic behaviors. The central pattern generator (CPG) network responsible for these behaviors is well-characterized with experimental and theoretical studies, and it can be formulated as a nonlinear dynam- ical system. The underlying mechanism responsible for locomotor behavior can be expressed as the process of leaky integration with resetting states generating appropriate phases for changing body velocity. The low-dimensional input to the CPG model generates the bilateral pattern of swing and stance modulation for each limb and is consistent with the desired …

Fabrication And Thermoelectric Characterization Of Transition Metal Silicide-Based Composite Thermocouples, Gunes A. Yakaboylu, Rajalekshmi C. Pillai, Katarzyna Sabolsky, Edward M. Sabolsky

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Metal silicide-based thermocouples were fabricated by screen printing thick films of the powder compositions onto alumina tapes followed by lamination and sintering processes. The legs of the embedded thermocouples were composed of composite compositions consisting of MoSi2, WSi2, ZrSi2, or TaSi2 with an additional 10 vol % Al2O3 to form a silicide–oxide composite. The structural and high-temperature thermoelectric properties of the composite thermocouples were examined using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and a typical hot–cold junction measurement technique. MoSi2-Al2O3 and WSi2-Al2O3 composites exhibited higher intrinsic Seebeck coefficients (22.2–30.0 μV/K) at high-temperature gradients, which were calculated from the thermoelectric data of …

A Comprehensive Method Of Calculating Maximum Bridge Scour Depth, Rupayan Saha, Seung Oh Lee, Seung Ho Hong

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Recently, the issues of scour around a bridge have become prominent because of the recurrent occurrence of extreme weather events. Thus, a bridge must be designed with the appropriate protection measures to prevent failure due to scour for the high flows to which it may be subjected during such extreme weather events. However, the current scour depth estimation by several recommended equations shows inaccurate results in high flow. One possible reason is that the current scour equations are based on experiments using free-surface flow even though extreme flood events can cause bridge overtopping flow in combination with submerged orifice flow. …

Predictive Models For Charitable Giving Using Machine Learning Techniques, Leily Farrokhvar, Azadeh Ansari, Behrooz Kamali

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Private giving represents more than three fourths of all U.S. charitable donations, about 2% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Private giving is a significant factor in funding the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy, which accounts for more than 10% of total GDP. Despite the abundance of data available through tax forms and other sources, it is unclear which factors influence private donation, and a reliable predictive mechanism remains elu- sive. This study aims to develop predictive models to accurately estimate future charitable giving based on a set of potentially influential factors. We have selected several factors, including unemployment …

Effects Of Water Content And Particle Size On Yield And Reactivity Of Lignite Chars Derived From Pyrolysis And Gasification, Yong Huang, Yonggang Wang, Hao Zhou, Yaxuan Gao, Deliang Xu, Lei Bai, Shu Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Water inside coal particles could potentially enhance the interior char–steam reactions during pyrolysis and gasification. This study aims to examine the effects of water contents on the char conversion during the pyrolysis and gasification of Shengli lignite. The ex-situ reactivities of chars were further analyzed by a thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA). Under the pyrolysis condition, the increase in water contents has monotonically decreased the char yields only when the coal particles were small (μm). In contrast, the water in only large coal particles (0.9–2.0 mm) has clearly favored the increase in char conversion during the gasification condition where 50% steam …

Detecting Body Mass Index From A Facial Photograph In Lifestyle Intervention, Makenzie L. Barr, Guodong Guo, Sarah E. Colby, Melissa D. Olfert

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study aimed to identify whether a research participant’s body-mass index (BMI) can be correctly identified from their facial image (photograph) in order to improve data capturing in dissemination and implementation research. Facial BMI (fBMI) was measured using an algorithm formulated to identify points on each enrolled participant’s face from a photograph. Once facial landmarks were detected, distances and ratios between them were computed to characterize facial fatness. A regression function was then used to represent the relationship between facial measures and BMI values to then calculate fBMI from each photo image. Simultaneously, BMI was physically measured (mBMI) by trained …

Using Lamodel To Analyze Coal Bumps, Keith A. Heasley, Ihsan Berk Tulu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Coal bumps have long been a safety hazard in coal mines, and even after decades of research, the exact mechanics that cause coal bumps are still not well understood. Therefore, coal bumps are still difficult to predict and control. The LaModel program has a long history of being used to effectively analyze displace- ments and stresses in coal mines, and with the recent addition of energy release and local mine stiffness calculations, the LaModel program now has greatly increased capabilities for evaluating coal bump potential. This paper presents three recent case histories where coal stress, pillar safety factor, energy release …

Quantum Confined Peptide Assemblies With Tunable Visible To Near-Infrared Spectral Range, Kai Tao, Zhen Fan, Leming Sun, Pandeeswar Makam, Zhen Tian, Mark Ruegsegger, Shira Shaham-Niv, Derek Hansford, Ruth Aizen, Zui Pan, Scott Galster, Jianjie Ma, Fan Yuan, Mingsu Si, Songnan Qu, Mingjun Zhang, Ehud Gazit, Junbai Li

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Quantum confined materials have been extensively studied for photoluminescent applica- tions. Due to intrinsic limitations of low biocompatibility and challenging modulation, the utilization of conventional inorganic quantum confined photoluminescent materials in bio- imaging and bio-machine interface faces critical restrictions. Here, we present aromatic cyclo-dipeptides that dimerize into quantum dots, which serve as building blocks to further self-assemble into quantum confined supramolecular structures with diverse morphologies and photoluminescence properties. Especially, the emission can be tuned from the visible region to the near-infrared region (420 nm to 820 nm) by modulating the self-assembly process. Moreover, no obvious cytotoxic effect is observed for …

Incineration Of Nanoclay Composites Leads To Byproducts With Reduced Cellular Reactivity, Alixandra Wagner, Andrew P. White, Man Chio Tang, Sushant Agarwal, Todd A. Stueckle, Yon Rojanasakul, Rakesh K. Gupta, Carasela Zoica Dinu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Addition of nanoclays into a polymer matrix leads to nanocomposites with enhanced properties to be used in plastics for food packaging applications. Because of the plastics’ high stored energy value, such nanocomposites make good candidates for disposal via municipal solid waste plants. However, upon disposal, increased concerns related to nanocomposites’ byproducts potential toxicity arise, especially considering that such byproducts could escape disposal filters to cause inhalation hazards. Herein, we investigated the effects that byproducts of a polymer polylactic acid-based nanocomposite containing a functionalized montmorillonite nanoclay (Cloisite 30B) could pose to human lung epithelial cells, used as a model for inhalation …

Interval Fuzzy Model For Robust Aircraft Imu Sensors Fault Detection, Michele Crispoltoni, Mario Luca Fravolini, Fabio Balzano, Stephane D'Urso, Marcello Rosario Napolitano

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper proposes a data-based approach for a robust fault detection (FD) of the inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors of an aircraft. Fuzzy interval models (FIMs) have been introduced for coping with the significant modeling uncertainties caused by poorly modeled aerodynamics. The proposed FIMs are used to compute robust prediction intervals for the measurements provided by the IMU sensors. Specifically, a nonlinear neural network (NN) model is used as central prediction of the sensor response while the uncertainty around the central estimation is captured by the FIM model. The uncertainty has been also modelled using a conventional linear Interval Model …

Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Derived From Bamboo Shoot As Solid Base Catalyst For Knoevenagel Condensation And Transesterification Reactions, Bingbing Mi, Xiufang Chen, Changle Jiang, Jingxin Wang, Xiujuan Chen, Bo Zhang, Xianmiao Liu, Zhijia Liu, Benhua Fei

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Highly porous nitrogen-doped carbons derived from bamboo shoots (BSNCs) were prepared through an in-situ synthesis method. The results showed that BSNCs had a large specific surface area, a relatively high nitrogen content and hierarchically porous structures. The catalytic properties of BSNCs were evaluated based on Knoevenagel condensation and transesterification reactions. Deprotonated BSNC-700 exhibited high efficiency for the model reactions as a solid base catalyst, and the superior sample deprotonated in tBuOK solution with a concentration of 0.1 increased the conversion rate from 16.1% to 76.0% for Knoevenagel condensation. The two reactions proceeded smoothly in the presence of deprotonated BSNC-700. The …

Ssaw: A New Sequence Similarity Analysis Method Based On The Stationary Discrete Wavelet Transform, Jie Lin, Donald Adjeroh, Bing-Hua Jiang, Yue Jiang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Alignment-free sequence similarity analysis methods often lead to significant savings in computational time over alignment-based counterparts.

Results: Anewalignment-freesequencesimilarityanalysismethod,calledSSAWisproposed.SSAWstandsfor Sequence Similarity Analysis using the Stationary Discrete Wavelet Transform (SDWT). It extracts k-mers from a sequence, then maps each k-mer to a complex number field. Then, the series of complex numbers formed are transformed into feature vectors using the stationary discrete wavelet transform. After these steps, the original sequence is turned into a feature vector with numeric values, which can then be used for clustering and/or classification.

Conclusions: Usingtwodifferenttypesofapplications,namely,clusteringandclassification,wecomparedSSAW against the the-state-of-the-art alignment free sequence analysis methods. SSAW demonstrates competitive or …

Numerical Analysis And Case Study On The Mitigation Of Mining Damage To The Floor Of No. 5 Coal Seam Of Taiyuan Group By Grouting, A. Li, Y. Liu, L. Mou, K. Li

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Based on the geological condition of panel 22507 of the no. 5 coal seam at Dongjiahe coal mine, numerical analysis of the stability and water permeability of the floor aquiclude before and after grouting was conducted using Rock Failure Process Analysis (F-RFPA2D). The dynamic development, extension, and distribution of the cracks in the aquiclude are discussed. It is shown that grouting can increase the effective thickness of the aquiclude, reduce the floor damage depth, and control the floor water inrush path, thus effectively improving the overall strength and water blocking capability of the aquiclude. These numerical study results were applied …

Insights Into The Magnetic Dead Layer In La0.7sr0.3mno3 Thin Films From Temperature, Magnetic Field And Thickness Dependence Of Their Magnetization, N. Mottaghi, M.S. Seehra, R. Trappen, S. Kumari, Chih-Yeh Huang, S. Yousefi, G.B. Cabrera, A.H. Romero, M.B. Holcomb

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Experimental investigations of the magnetic dead layer in 7.6 nm thick film of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) are reported. The dc magnetization (M) measurements for a sample cooled to T = 5 K in applied field H = 0 reveal the presence of negative remanent magnetization (NRM) in the M vs. H (magnetic field) measurements as well as in the M vs. T measurements in H = 50 Oe and 100 Oe. The M vs. T data in ZFC (zero-field-cooled) and FC (field-cooled) protocols are used to determine the blocking temperature TB in different H. Isothermal hysteresis loops at differ- ent T …

Ez-Ag: Structure-Free Data Aggregation In Manets Using Push-Assisted Self-Repelling Random Walks, V Kulathumani, M Nakagawa, A Arona

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper describes EZ-AG, a structure-free protocol for duplicate insensitive data aggregation in MANETs. The key idea in EZ-AG is to introduce a token that performs a self-repelling random walk in the network and aggregates information from nodes when they are visited for the first time. A self-repelling random walk of a token on a graph is one in which at each step, the token moves to a neighbor that has been visited least often. While self-repelling random walks visit all nodes in the network much faster than plain random walks, they tend to slow down when most of the …

Dynamic Mechanical Behavior Of Dry And Water Saturated Igneous Rock With Acoustic Emission Monitoring, Jun Guo, Guo-Rui Feng, Ting-Ye Qi, Pengfei Wang, Jian Yang, Zhen Li, Jinwen Bai, Xianjie Du, Zehua Wang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The uniaxial cyclic loading tests have been conducted to study the mechanical behavior of dry and water saturated igneous rock with acoustic emission (AE) monitoring. The igneous rock samples are dried, naturally immersed, and boiled to get specimens with different water contents for the testing. The mineral compositions and the microstructures of the dry and water saturated igneous rock are also presented. The dry specimens present higher strength, fewer strains, and rapid increase of AE count subjected to the cyclic loading, which reflects the hard and brittle behavior and strong burst proneness of igneous rock. The water saturated specimens have …

Reproducing Field Measurements Using Scaled-Down Hydraulic Model Studies In A Laboratory, Seung Oh Lee, Seung Ho Hong

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Little efforts have been made to the value of laboratory model study in closing the gap between results from idealized laboratory experiments and those from field data. Thus, at first, three bridge sites were selected and equipped with fathometers to find the bed elevation change in the vicinity of bridge pier over time. After and during the flooding, the stream flow variables and their bathymetry were measured using current viable technologies at the field. Then, to develop and suggest a laboratory modeling techniques, full three-dimensional physical models including measured river bathymetry and bridge geometry were designed and fabricated in a …

Parametric Investigation Of Combustion And Heat Transfer Characteristics Of Oscillating Linear Engine Alternator, Mehar Bade, Nigel N. Clark, Matthew C. Robinson, Parviz Famouri

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

An Oscillating Linear Engine Alternator (OLEA) has the potential to overcome the thermal, mechanical, and combustion inadequacies encountered by the conventional slider-crank engines. The linear engines convert the reciprocating piston motion into electricity, thereby eliminating needless crankshaft linkages and rotational motion. As the dead center positions are not explicitly identified unlike crankshaft engines, the linear engine exhibits different stroke and compression ratio every cycle and should manage the unfavorable events like misfire, rapid load changes, and overfueling without the energy storage of a flywheel. Further, the apparatus control and management strategy is difficult for OLEA when compared to conventional engines …

Graphene Nanoplatelets-Sericin Surface-Modified Gum Alloy For Improved Biological Response, Valentina Mitran, Valentina Dinca, Raluca Ion, Vasile D. Cojocaru, Patricia Neacsu, Cerasela Zoica Dinu, Laurentiu Rusen, Simona Brajnicov, Anca Bonciu, Maria Dinescu, Doina Raducanu, Ioan Dan

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In this study a “Gum Metal” titanium-based alloy, Ti-31.7Nb-6.21Zr-1.4Fe-0.16O, was synthesized by melting and characterized in order to evaluate its potential for biomedical applications. The results showed that the newly developed alloy presents a very high strength, high plasticity and a low Young's modulus relative to titanium alloys currently used in medicine. For further bone implant applications, the newly synthesized alloy was surface modified with graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), sericin (SS) and graphene nanoplatelets/sericine (GNP–SS) composite films via Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) technique. The characterization of each specimen was monitored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), …

Geotechnical Considerations For Concurrent Pillar Recovery In Close-Distance Multiple Seams, Peter Zhang, Berk Tulu, Morgan Sears, Jack Trackemas

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Global And Local Stress Changes In A Longwall Gateroad, I.B. Tulu, G.S. Esterhuizen, D. Gearhart, T.M. Klemetti, K.M. Mohamed, D.W.H. Su

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A numerical-model-based approach was recently developed for estimating the changes in both the hor- izontal and vertical loading conditions induced by an approaching longwall face. In this approach, a sys- tematic procedure is used to estimate the model’s inputs. Shearing along the bedding planes is modeled with ubiquitous joint elements and interface elements. Coal is modeled with a newly developed coal mass model. The response of the gob is calibrated with back analysis of subsidence data and the results of previously published laboratory tests on rock fragments. The model results were verified with the sub- sidence and stress data recently …

Mechanism Of Byproducts Formation In The Isobutane/Butene Alkylation On Hy Zeolites, Zhiwei Chen, Feng Gao, Kun Ren, Quangui Wu, Yan Luo, Hongjun Zhou, Meng Zhang, Quan Xu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Submicron-size HY zeolites with a particles size of 200–700 nm were synthesized employing a crystal precipitation method in this study. The catalytic activity for the isobutane/butene alkylation was evaluated. The results indicated that butene conversion was above 90% and the selectivity of expected products (C8) was nearly at 90% within 72 h. The micropores-blocking and coverage of acid sites resulting from high hydrocarbons increased the difficulty for the diffusion of products to the bulk and inhibited the adsorption of reactant on activity sites, which caused deactivation of catalyst. The ultimate C12 content in alkylate oil, stemmed from trimerization of butene, …

Navigating The “No Man's Land” Of Tki-Failed Egfr-Mutated Non– Small Cell Lung Cancer (Nsclc): A Review, Bryan Oronsky, Patrick Ma, Tony R. Reid, Pedro Cabrales, Michelle Lybeck, Arnold Oronsky, Neil Oronsky, Corey A. Carter

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

As the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, lung cancer is a worldwide health issue that is overwhelmingly caused by smoking. However, a substantial minority (~25%) of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has never smoked. In these patients, activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are more likely, which render their tumors susceptible for a finite period to treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and confer a better prognosis than EGFR wild-type NSCLC. On progression, due to the inevitable insurgence of resistance, TKIs are generally followed by second- or third-line salvage chemotherapy until treatment failure, after …