Engineering Commons^™

Everglades Drainage District: Biennial Report 1927-1928 To The Board Of Commissioners Of Everglades Drainage District, F C. Elliot

City and Regional Planning -- Florida

Everglades Drainage District report 1927-1928

Gel-Seq: Whole-Genome And Transcriptome Sequencing By Simultaneous Low-Input Dna And Rna Library Preparation Using Semi-Permeable Hydrogel Barriers, Gordon Hoople, Andrew Richards, Yan Wu, Kota Kaneko, Xiaolin Luo, Gen-Sheng Feng, Kun Zhang, Albert P. Pisano

School of Engineering: Faculty Scholarship

The advent of next generation sequencing has fundamentally changed genomics research. Unfortunately, standard protocols for sequencing the genome and the transcriptome are incompatible. This forces researchers to choose between examining either the DNA or the RNA for a particular sample. Here we describe a new device and method, collectively dubbed Gel-seq, that enables researchers to simultaneously sequence both DNA and RNA from the same sample. This technology makes it possible to directly examine the ways that changes in the genome impact the transcriptome in as few as 100 cells. The heart of the Gel-seq protocol is the physical separation of …

A Strategy To Optimize Recovery In Orthopedic Sports Injuries, Michael P. Sealy, Ziye Liu, Chao Li, Yuebin Guo, Ben White, Mark Barkey, Brian Jordon J, Luke N. Brewer, Dale Feldman

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

An important goal for treatment of sports injuries is to have as short a recovery time as possible. The critical problem with current orthopedic implants is that they are designed to be permanent and have a high complication rate (15%) that often requires removal and replacement with a second surgery; and subsequently a second rehabilitation cycle. This study was designed to test the feasibility of having a device that could provide the needed mechanical properties, while promoting healing, for a specified amount of time and then degrade away, to shorten the recovery time. The specific strategy was to create a …

Analysis Of A Potential A(H7n9) Influenza Pandemic Outbreak In The U.S., Walter A. Silva Sotillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a collection of manuscripts that describe development of models and model implementation to analyze impact of potential A(H7N9) pandemic influenza outbreak in the U.S. Though this virus is still only animal-to-human transmittable, it has potential to become human-to-human transmittable and trigger a pandemic. This work is motivated by the negative impact on human lives that this virus has already caused in China, and is intended to support public health officials in preparing to protect U.S. population from a potential outbreak of pandemic scale.

An agent-based (AB) simulation model is used to replicate the social dynamics of the …

Evaluation Of Adjustable Continuity Joint Variations For Use In The Restore Barrier, Scott Rosenbaugh, Jennifer D. Schmidt, Ronald K. Faller, James C. Holloway

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

During MASH TL-4 full-scale crash testing of the RESTORE barrier, concrete cracking and spalling was observed on the barrier beams that would likely require repairs or replacement. This study sought to evaluate joint design alternatives for use in the RESTORE barrier in order to limit the amount of system damage. Three variations of the Adjustable Continuity Joint (ACJ) were identified as potential modifications: 1) incorporating rubber bearing pads within the ACJ, 2) utilizing normal weight concrete instead of lightweight concrete, and 3) incorporating a steel end cap into the ends of the beam segments.

Four dynamic component tests were conducted …

Machine Learning And Adaptive Signal Processing Methods For Electrocardiography Applications, Calvin A. Perumalla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is directed towards improving the state of art cardiac monitoring methods and automatic diagnosis of cardiac anomalies through modern engineering approaches such as adaptive signal processing, and machine learning methods. The dissertation will describe the invention and associated methods of a cardiac rhythm monitor dubbed the Integrated Vectorcardiogram (iVCG). In addition, novel machine learning approaches are discussed to improve diagnoses and prediction accuracy of cardiac diseases.

It is estimated that around 17 million people in the world die from cardiac related events each year. It has also been shown that many of such deaths can be …

Force Compensation And Recreation Accuracy In Humans, Benjamin Rigsby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As industry becomes increasingly reliant on robotic assistance and human-computer interfaces, the demand to understand the human sensorimotor system’s characteristics intensifies. Although this field of research has been going on for over a century, new technologies push the limits of the human motor system and our knowledge of it. With new technologies come new abilities, and, in the area of medical care and rehabilitation, the need to expand our knowledge of the sensorimotor system comes from both the patient and physician.

Two studies relating to human force interaction are presented in this thesis. The first study

focuses on humans’ ability …

1997, April 14 – Salinas Valley Water Coalition Request To Monterey County Board Of Supervisors To Deny Tanimura & Antle’S Claim For Alternative Relief Filed On March 24, 1997.

Related Research and Documents

1997 correspondence, claim for alternative relief and supporting declarations and documents, all relating to issues pertaining to the operation of the Nacimiento and San Antonio reservoirs, the conveyance system and the delivery of water to parcels located in the Salinas River Groundwater Basin at the north end of Monterey County, California

Effects Of Proton Irradiation On Structural And Electrochemical Charge Storage Properties Of Tio2 Nanotube Electrode For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Kassiopeia A. Smith, Andreas I. Savva, Changjian Deng, Hui Xiong

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of proton irradiation on nanostructured metal oxides have been investigated. Recent studies suggest that the presence of structural defects (e.g. vacancies and interstitials) in metal oxides may enhance the material’s electrochemical charge storage capacity. A new approach to introduce defects in electrode materials is to use ion irradiation as it can produce a supersaturation of point defects in the target material. In this work we report the effect of low-energy proton irradiation on amorphous TiO₂ nanotube electrodes at both room temperature and high temperature (250 ˚C). Upon room temperature irradiation the nanotubes demonstrate an irradiation-induced phase transformation …

2014, February 26 – Proposal To Abolish Or Limit Water Data Confidentiality To 1-5 Years: Improving Water Resource Management And Increasing Net Water Benefits In The State Of California

Related Research and Documents

A February 26, 2014, submission by Dr. Peter Reinelt to the California State Water Resources Control Board his Proposal to Abolish or Limit Water Data Confidentiality. This proposal provided a conceptual economic framework for a comprehensive review of the economics of water data confidentiality with the goal, in furtherance of both public and private interest, of improving water resource management and increasing net water benefits in the State of California.

2007, November 2 - Zone 2b Proposition 218 Engineer's Report

Monterey County Water Resources Agency Engineering Reports

A 2007 Engineer’s Report prepared in order to document the basis of the delivery charges for recipients of water delivered from the Salinas River Diversion Facility that necessitated the development of a financing plan for the capital improvements, the annual operation and maintenance costs for those improvements, and the annual operations and maintenance costs of the existing facilities.

Emg-Driven Inverse Dynamic Analysis Of Knee Contact Forces During Gait And Cycling Using Opensim, Megan V. Pottinger, Katherine Mavrommati, Scott Hazelwood, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

Joint contact forces determine the loading experienced by cartilage tissue and, thus, may be used to predict risk of cartilage tissue damage and osteoarthritis (OA). Participating in low impact and/or non-weight bearing activities such as cycling may help reduce knee OA risk by limiting forces exerted during exercise [1]. Cycling is a common recommendation for rehabilitative or fitness sustainment exercise for select patients [1]. Although knee joint contact forces have been directly measured in gait and cycling using instrumented knee implants [2,3] and calculated in gait using EMG-driven analysis [4]; they have not been calculated in cycling using EMG-driven analysis. …

Principal Component Analysis Of Gait And Cycling Experiments: Crosstalk Error Reduction And Corrected Knee Axes, Jordan Skaro, Harsh Goel, Scott Hazelwood, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

Crosstalk is a leading source of error in motion analysis [1-2]. Due to incorrect flexion axis direction that develops from marker placement error, crosstalk results in a strong, anatomically incorrect correlation between flexion-extension (FE) and adduction-abduction (AA) motions [1-2]. Thus, crosstalk limits the ability of biomechanical models to reflect the “true” motion of the knee. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been proposed as a post-hoc correction for crosstalk in prior gait studies [1-2]; however, previous studies have not proposed a method to determine PCA corrected knee axes. Further, it is not clear how PCA should be implemented in motion analysis …

Elbow And Shoulder Joint Torques Are Correlated With Body Mass Index But Not Game Pitch Count In Youth Baseball Pitchers, Jim Douglas Darke, Eshan M. Dandekar, Arnel Aguinaldo, Scott Hazelwood, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

The number of ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstructive (i.e. “Tommy John”) surgeries performed on youth baseball pitchers have more than doubled since 2000 [1]. Routinely pitching while fatigued is considered a leading factor associated with UCL injuries; adolescent pitchers who had elbow or shoulder surgery were 36 times more likely to have routinely pitched with arm fatigue [1]. MLB/USA Baseball Pitch Smart guidelines limit 9-10 yr. old pitchers to a maximum 75 pitches per game, a figure based on long-term studies related to injury prevention [2]. Several studies have shown that pitching kinematics (e.g. elbow flexion/extension and pronation/supination, scapulothoracic internal-external …

Knee Biomechanics During Cycling Are Similar For Normal Weight And Obese Subjects, Juan D. Gutierrez-Franco, Jordan Skaro, Scott Hazelwood, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of cartilage and bone tissue, and is linked to more than 70% of total hip and knee replacements [1]. In 1994 the direct and indirect costs of OA in the United States were $155 billion [2] and in 2006 OA resulted in approximately $10.5 billion in hospital charges [3]. Obesity is a risk factor for OA [1, 3, 4], likely due to increased knee loading [5, 6] and varus malalignment [7] in gait. Seated cycling has been recommended as a weight-loss exercise with lower knee loads than walking or jogging [8]. However, lack of …

Brute-Force Missing Data Extreme Learning Machine For Predicting Huntington's Disease, Anton Akusok, Emil Eirola, Kaj Mikael Björk, Yoan Miche, Hans Johnson, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Paper Presents a Novel Procedure to Train Extreme Learning Machine Models on Datasets with Missing Values. in Effect, a Separate Model is Learned to Classify Every Sample in the Test Set, However, this is Accomplished in an Efficient Manner Which Does Not Require Accessing the Training Data Repeatedly. Instead, a Sparse Structure is Imposed on the Input Layer Weights, Which Enables Calculating the Necessary Statistics in the Training Phase. an application to Predicting the Progression of Huntington's Disease from Brain Scans is Presented. Experimental Comparisons Show Promising Results Equivalent to the State of the Art in Machine Learning with …

Photopolymerization Synthesis Of Magnetic Nanoparticle Embedded Nanogels For Targeted Biotherapeutic Delivery, Daniel Jonwal Denmark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conventional therapeutic techniques treat the patient by delivering a biotherapeutic to the entire body rather than the target tissue. In the case of chemotherapy, the biotherapeutic is a drug that kills healthy and diseased cells indiscriminately which can lead to undesirable side effects. With targeted delivery, biotherapeutics can be delivered directly to the diseased tissue significantly reducing exposure to otherwise healthy tissue. Typical composite delivery devices are minimally composed of a stimuli responsive polymer, such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), allowing for triggered release when heated beyond approximately 32 °C, and magnetic nanoparticles which enable targeting as well as provide a mechanism for …

Chaos-Based Cryptography For Cloud Computing, Paul Tobin, Lee Tobin, Michael Mckeever, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

Cloud computing and poor security issues have quadrupled over the last six years and with the alleged presence of backdoors in common encryption ciphers, has created a need for personalising the encryption process by the client. In 2007, two Microsoft employees gave a presentation ``On the Possibility of a backdoor in the NIST SP800-90 Dual Elliptic Curve Pseudo Random Number Generators'' and was linked in 2013 by the New York Times with notes leaked by Edward Snowden. This confirmed backdoors were placed, allegedly, in a number of encryption systems by the National Security Agency, which if true creates an urgent …

Gas Collection, Haorong Li, Yanshun Yu, Daihong Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A system includes a vessel configured to couple with a gas source for drawing gas into the vessel. The vessel is also configured to receive liquid. The system includes an over flow port in fluid communication with the environment external to the vessel. The overflow port is configured to separate gas within the vessel from the external environment. The system also includes an overflow conduit having an end within the overflow port so that when gas pressure within the vessel increases, liquid is received by the over flow conduit. Another system includes a tank defining an air space for receiving …

One-To-Cloud One-Time Pad Data Encryption: Introducing Virtual Prototyping With Pspice, Paul Tobin, Lee Tobin, Roberto Gandia Blanquer Dr, Michael Mckeever, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

In this paper, we examine the design and application of a one-time pad encryption system for protecting data stored in the Cloud. Personalising security using a one-time pad generator at the client-end protects data from break-ins, side-channel attacks and backdoors in public encryption algorithms. The one-time pad binary sequences were obtained from modified analogue chaos oscillators initiated by noise and encoded client data locally. Specific ``one-to-Cloud'' storage applications returned control back to the end user but without the key distribution problem normally associated with one-time pad encryption. Development of the prototype was aided by ``Virtual Prototyping'' in the latest version …

Investigation Of The Scanning Microarc Oxidation Process, Linqin Xia, Jianmin Han, Joseph P. Domblesky, Zhiyong Yang, Weijing Li

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Scanning microarc oxidation (SMAO) is a coating process which is based on conventional microarc oxidation (MAO). The key difference is that deposition in SMAO is achieved by using a stainless steel nozzle to spray an electrolyte stream on the substrate surface as opposed to immersing the workpiece in an electrolyzer. In the present study, SMAO discharge characteristics, coating morphology, and properties are analyzed and compared to results obtained from MAO under similar conditions. Results show that MAO and SMAO have comparable spark and microarc lifetimes and sizes, though significant differences in incubation time and discharge distribution were evident. Results also …

Quantifying And Modeling Surface Inflow And Groundwater Infiltration Into Sanitary Sewers In Southern Pinellas County, Fl, Megan E. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following large rain events, excess flow in sanitary sewers from inflow and infiltration (I/I) cause sanitary sewer overflows (SSO), resulting in significant problems for Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area. Stormwater enters the sanitary sewers as inflow from improper or illegal surface connections, and groundwater enters the system as infiltration through cracks in subsurface infrastructure. This pilot study was designed to develop methods to separate and quantify the components of I/I and to build a predictive model using flowmeter and rainfall data.

To identify surface inflow, daily wastewater production and groundwater infiltration patterns were filtered from the flow data, …

Enhancing Regional Ocean Modeling Simulation Performance With The Xeon Phi Architecture, Chris Lupo, Maria Pantoja, Paul Choboter

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ocean studies are crucial to many scientific disciplines. Due to the difficulty in probing the deep layers of the ocean and the scarcity of data in some of the oceans, the scientific community relies heavily on ocean simulation models. Ocean modeling is complex and computationally intensive, and improving the performance of these models will greatly advance and improve the work of ocean scientists. This paper presents a detailed exploration of the acceleration of the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS) software with the latest Intel Xeon Phi x200 architectures. Both shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel computing models are evaluated. Results show run …

2013-2014, August - Integrated Regional Water Management Plan For The Greater Monterey County Region

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

An Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWM Plan) developed by 18 member entities that include government agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational organizations, water service districts, private water companies, and organizations representing agricultural, environmental, and community interests. The IRWM Plan is an expansion and modification of a previous plan – the May 2006 Salinas Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Functionally Equivalent Plan developed by Monterey County Water Resources Agency. While the traditional approach to water resource management has typically involved separate and distinct agencies managing different aspects of the water system, i.e., water supply, water quality, flood management, and natural resources, integrated …

Predictive Analytics In Cardiac Healthcare And 5g Cellular Networks, Dilranjan S. Wickramasuriya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes the use of Machine Learning (ML) to two very distinct, yet compelling, applications – predicting cardiac arrhythmia episodes and predicting base station association in 5G networks comprising of virtual cells. In the first scenario, Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are used to classify features extracted from electrocardiogram (EKG) signals. The second problem requires a different formulation departing from traditional ML classification where the objective is to partition feature space into constituent class regions. Instead, the intention here is to identify temporal patterns in unequal-length sequences. Using Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), it is demonstrated that accurate predictions can be …

Synergistic Effects Of Processing And Nanofiber Reinforcement On The Mechanical And Ferroelectric Performance Of Geopolymer Matrix Composites, Akm S. Rahman, Muhammad E. Hossain, Donald W. Radford

Publications and Research

tThis study involved the evaluation of mechanical and ferroelectric properties of a new classof nanofiller infused inorganic polymer (geopolymer, GP). To evaluate the mechanical per-formance, compressive strength and fracture resistance of neat and nanofillers infused GPwere studied at various treatment temperatures. It was found that, addition of 5 vol% alu-mina nanofiber (ANF), increased compressive strength and modulus by over 30% and 60%,respectively, while it increased fracture toughness (KIC) by over 60% compared to the baselinespecimens. Simultaneously, ferroelectric properties were investigated at various treatmenttemperatures (250◦C, 650◦C and 870◦C). Remarkably, higher ferroelectric hysteresis wasobserved with the GP treated at 870◦C and remnant …

Cross-Resistance And Synergism Bioassays Suggest Multiple Mechanisms Of Pyrethroid Resistance In Western Corn Rootworm Populations, Adriano E. Pereira, Dariane Souza, Sarah N. Zukoff, Lance J. Meinke, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Recently, resistance to the pyrethroid bifenthrin was detected and confirmed in field populations of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte from southwestern areas of Nebraska and Kansas. As a first step to understand potential mechanisms of resistance, the objectives of this study were i) to assess adult mortality at diagnostic concentration- LC99 to the pyrethroids bifenthrin and tefluthrin as well as DDT, ii) estimate adult and larval susceptibility to the same compounds as well as the organophosphate methyl-parathion, and iii) perform synergism experiments with piperonyl butoxide (PBO) (P450 inhibitor) and S,S,S-tributyl-phosphorotrithioate (DEF) (esterase inhibitor) in field populations. Most of …

Insights Into The Binding Mode Of Mek Type-Iii Inhibitors. A Step Towards Discovering And Designing Allosteric Kinase Inhibitors Across The Human Kinome, Zheng Zhao, Lei Xie, Philip E. Bourne

Publications and Research

Protein kinases are critical drug targets for treating a large variety of human diseases. Type- III kinase inhibitors have attracted increasing attention as highly selective therapeutics. Thus, understanding the binding mechanism of existing type-III kinase inhibitors provides useful insights into designing new type-III kinase inhibitors. In this work, we have systematically studied the binding mode of MEK-targeted type-III inhibitors using structural systems pharmacology and molecular dynamics simulation. Our studies provide detailed sequence, structure, interaction-fingerprint, pharmacophore and binding-site information on the binding characteristics of MEK type-III kinase inhibitors. We hypothesize that the helix-folding activation loop is a hallmark allosteric binding site …

Magnetic Behavior And Spin-Lattice Coupling In Cleavable, Van Der Waals Layered Crcl3 Crystals, Michael Mcguire, Genevieve Clark, Santosh Kc, W. Chance, Gerald Jellison, Valentino Cooper, Xiaodong Xu, Brian Sales

Faculty Publications

CrCl3 is a layered insulator that undergoes a crystallographic phase transition below room temperature and orders antiferromagnetically at low temperature. Weak van der Waals bonding between the layers and ferromagnetic in-plane magnetic order make it a promising material for obtaining atomically thin magnets and creating van der Waals heterostructures. In this work we have grown crystals of CrCl3, revisited the structural and thermodynamic properties of the bulk material, and explored mechanical exfoliation of the crystals. We find two distinct anomalies in the heat capacity at 14 and 17 K confirming that the magnetic order develops in two stages on cooling, …

Computational Study Of Mos2/Hfo2 Defective Interfaces For Nanometer-Scale Electronics, Santosh Kc, Roberto Longo, Robert Wallace, Kyeongjae Cho

Faculty Publications

Atomic structures and electronic properties of MoS2/HfO2 defective interfaces are investigated extensively for future field-effect transistor device applications. To mimic the atomic layer deposition growth under ambient conditions, the impact of interfacial oxygen concentration on the MoS2/HfO2 interface electronic structure is examined. Then, the effect on band offsets (BOs) and the thermodynamic stability of those interfaces is investigated and compared with available relevant experimental data. Our results show that the BOs can be modified up to 2 eV by tuning the oxygen content through, for example, the relative partial pressure. Interfaces with hydrogen impurities as well as various structural disorders …